Owais Mughal
Baluchistan was hit by a cyclone named ‘Yemyeni’ four days ago and it has caused widespread havoc. BBC news site is reporting that 800000 people have been affected. Today there are even reports of rioting by the hungry people waiting for aid to arrive. Worst affected area is reported to be Turbat where water over ran the embankments of Mirani dam. Government aid has started pouring in slowly but a lot needs to be done. The detailed news about the cyclone and rain havoc across Baluchistan is all over the national and international media therefore at ATP we will let following images do the talking. The title photo above is of a submerged Turbat mosque.
These photos have been linked to the news sites and clicking on them will take you to their parent websites.
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In this photo, the main road to Turbat is seen washed away in a flash flood. This photo is from thursday, June 28, 2007. Turbat city which has a population of 150000 is also without drinking water and electricity. Government of Pakistan has confirmed 14 deaths and 23 missing as of friday but this number may go higher once the water recedes.
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In the photo to the right, angry protestors are seen walking towards the ‘nazim’ (mayor’s) office of Turbat. They are protesting slow and meager aid reaching their villages. The water from the hand-drwan wells has been rendered undrinkable due to floods and tube-wells which draw water from much deeper could not be operated because of power failure. Rauf Rind, nazim (mayor) of Kech said:
“The entire town has been inundated and people have taken refuge in tall buildings and trees”.
Chakar Baloch who walked more than 40 km through the night to reach Turbat said:
“Every family is looking for one or two members”.
Others feared they would never see their missing family members again.
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Photo shows some of the problems that this cyclone has brought to people in the affected areas.
More photos of Baluchistan rains can be seen at BBC news site here.
Are cyclones a common phenomenon for this region or this is something more unusual and possibly related to climate change?
The reason the aid is trickling down and not flooding in is because people of Balochistan are not considered to be belonging to Pakistan, it’s only the land of Balochistan that belongs to Pakistan. Good example: when Bugti and his people stood against the federal govt, he was eliminated but when the terrorists in the ‘Lal Mosque’ take law and order in their hands, terrorising defenceless citizens, they are dealt with very politely just because they happen to be the children of Punjab.
Believe me if the same disaster had struck Punjab, the reaction would have been different with a quick rescue response.
Why is it when we moan about our rights to which the federal govt is a party then we are either treated as ‘traitors’ or nationalists while when we see the act of treason being perpetrated, in various forms and shapes, by many politicians/military junta/mullahism etc then there is no action taken against those criminals. Paksitan Zinadabad; Military-Mullah-politician Itehad murdabad
I think this situation deserves similar participation from the civil society to the Kashmir earthquake. The death toll is much less than the earthquake, but a million people being made homeless is no joke. It’s about 1/7 of the population of Baluchistan.
Want to share this image.Its from the Express:
http://express.com.pk/images/NP_LHE/20070627/Sub_I mages/1100212117-1.jpg
The above picture is of coastal highway some 175Km from Karachi
Owais thanks for brining this post as our most backward region of the country is facing the havoc of natural disaster leaving about million people homeless and many of them are without food and water.
It unearths the lack of disaster preparedness, emergency response and mitigation for any natural or man made calamity in our country. Delayed response from federal government in Baluchistan has fueled anger and agony among the survivors as none of the dignitaries visited there. People are arguing that the head of the states come with huge cavalcades when it comes to Gawadar or other projects just to show the gimmick development. When the people of Baluchistan suffer nobody cares. It will further breach their trust on federal government as the people already distrust them in that area.
Its a time that politicians (gov and opp), civil society and the people of Pakistan should mobilized in the same way as they did during the earthquake in 2005.