July 01, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 15, 1428

LARKANA, June 30: The army was called out on Saturday to deal with the worsening situation in the Qambar-Shahdadkot region following breaches in a dyke that rendered hundreds of people homeless.

Lt-Col Saqib Ahmed from the Pano Aqil Cantonment set up camps in Qubo Saeed Khan and near the Kachi Pul area, officials said. They said that three teams were using boats to evacuate stranded people, delivering food and providing medical treatment to people marooned by flooding.

The district government called for the army’s help after torrents coming from Balochistan combined with the water accumulated by heavy downpour in Khirthar mountains and Qambar mounted pressure on one of the major watercourses in the area called Dhori Shakh.

According to officials, more than 100 villages had been inundated and most of the population there had been shifted in school buildings.

Another official said that at least 400 villages had been affected and people had taken shelter on both sides of the Motorway while many families had moved to Garhi Khairo.

Sindh’s Secretary Irrigation Shujauddain Junejo visited the area and inspected vulnerable points of the flood protection dyke.

There are 11 breaches in the dyke and none of them have so far been plugged.

The number of snakebite cases and stomach diseases was on the increase in the area where volunteers of the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) were reported to be providing medical help to the marooned people, said Ahmed Hussain Khawaja, district head of the NCHD.

District Nazim of Qambar-Shahdadkot Nawab Shabir Ahmed Chandio told Dawn on Saturday over telephone that he had warned about the development of such a situation.

Criticising the government, he said that the situation could have been avoided if the government had taken preventive measures in advance.

He urged the provincial government to immediately open the gates of Main Nara Valley (MNV) Drain for discharging water coming from Balochistan and Khirthar mountains into the Manchhar Lake and subsequently let it flow into sea.

He feared that if timely action was not taken, the level of water in Hamal Lake might cross dangerous levels, causing unprecedented damage in the area, adding that the threat to human lives could not ruled out.

He said more than 25,000 people were stranded and feared that the Dhori

Shakh watercourse might breach if water was allowed to increase.

Another source said that the number of marooned people exceeded 50,000. The district nazim said that Qambar, Shahdadkot and Warah towns were threatened by rising waters.