THATTA: Around 200 vessels carrying an unspecified number of fishermen could not be contacted by the relevant authorities or their community amid a great deal of panic across the Sindh-Balochistan coastal areas caused by the powerful tropical cyclone Nilofar.

Strong winds and torrential rains are feared to hit the coastline over the next three days and the vulnerable areas have been identified as Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin and Tharparkar districts.

Several hundred members of the fishermen community in Thatta and Sujawal districts were seen desperately seeking assistance of the Maritime Security Agency, Coast Guards, fisheries department and non-governmental organisations to know if their family members could be contacted.

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It was gathered that around 200 vessels carrying several thousand fishermen had left the coastal villages of Thatta for fishing in the deep sea many days before Nilofar developed in the Arabian Sea.

Thousands more who had set off later and were fishing not far from the coast timely received the cyclone warning and returned home, sources in the community said.

Those yet to to be contacted are residents of Keti Bunder, Kharo Chhan, Ghorabari, Jhangisar and other coastal areas of Thatta and Sujawal districts, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) leader Noor Mohammed Thaimor said.

Another PFF activist, Shafi Murghar, who heads the forum’s Delta Development Organisation, and his colleague, Gulab Shah, said that most of the vessels still fishing in the deep sea had started their trip from Kajar and Hajamro creeks and were unaware of the looming cyclone.

“The authorities concerned don’t have a wide-ranged communication network or appropriate gadgets to keep in touch with fishermen out at sea,” they said, adding that the only means at their disposal were mega phones and loudspeakers which could not help convey emergency alerts to those fishing in the deep sea.

Relief camps had been established in Keti Bunder, Baghan and Kharo Chhaan as well as many other areas where school buildings would be used to accommodate the affected people.

Meanwhile, the Jati taluka mukhtiarkar said that if Nilofar hit the Sujawal coastline, high velocity winds and torrential rains could cause heavy damage to 14 jetties that existed in the area.

He said a total of 19,435 people living in Kar Malak, Kothi, Daulatpur and Jhoongo Jalbani union councils, 16 dehs and 58 villages were vulnerable to the natural disaster.

A cyclone that hit the coastline in 1999 had left some 700 people dead and a trail of destruction.

Most people coming across this reporter in Thatta on Wednesday expressed their astonishment over the indifference being shown by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) despite issuance of strong warning by the Sindh government, which had even declared an emergency in many districts.

Thatta Deputy Commissioner Agha Shahnawaz Babar, when contacted for his comment, said emergency measures had been taken at district level to cope with any situation arising out of the cyclone.

Leaves of all government employees had been cancelled and they had been strictly told to remain available at their workplace to join the relief work in case of any eventuality, he added. He said cyclone alerts were also being aired through FM radios and TV channels, besides conventional means.

BADIN: A large number of families living in coastal areas of this district moved away from their villages along with their cattle and belongings to escape a possible disaster of the kind that had inflicted heavy losses in men and material in 1999.

Hundreds of men, women and children have moved to safe places over the past couple of days and the process is continuing, according Additional Deputy Commissioner Syed Attaullah Shah.

He said that around 42,000 people living within the 88-kilometre coastline of Badin district were vulnerable to the effects of Nilofar, adding that the district administration had set up 68 relief camps in schools across Badin and Shaheed Fazal Rahu talukas.

He said emergency centres had been established for round-the-clock assistance in case of any eventuality while all departments, agencies and utility organisations had been put on high alert.

UMERKOT: Cyclone emergency was sounded on Wednesday in Umerkot by the district administration, which cancelled leave of all employees of the relevant departments.

Several decisions were taken at an emergency meeting of the district health vigilant committee presided over by Deputy Commissioner Makhdoom Aqeeluz Zaman in Darbar Hall.

The DC said all officials and the subordinate staff should remain alert as Nilofar was feared to cause widespread torrential rains in the district and affect a big population.

He said an emergency at hospitals was also being declared while employees of the health and revenue departments as well as town municipal committee had already been cancelled.

The meeting also discussed the drought-like situation in the district and took several decisions in this regard.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014