KARACHI: The ongoing flood has so far destroyed standing crops over more than 350,000 acres and over 7,000 houses in the province, particularly in some of its northern districts, says a report prepared by the Sindh government.

The report compiled by senior functionaries focused mainly on the districts of Sukkur, Khairpur and Ghotki in Sukkur division which, it said, had been the worst affected thus far.

The estimates for other riverine districts which were also somewhat affected by the floods were yet to be compiled, said officials.

The report compiled last week shows Khairpur as the badly affected district where floods have affected four talukas encompassing 13 union councils — 380 villages — with the population of 157,490.

In Sukkur, three talukas — 11 union councils comprising 251 villages and 123,045 population — are affected, while a total of 295 villages of nine UCs in Ghotki’s two talukas are flood-affected, which are home to some 95,000 people.

The flood has hit Khairpur district hard where it destroyed crops on more than 130,000 acres.

In Sukkur district, crop losses are calculated on 126,625 acres while the same in Ghotki is on more than 95,000 acres.

Most houses (3,027) have been damaged in Khairpur while 2,090 houses have been damaged in Sukkur and 2,155 houses in Ghotki district.

The report said seven people had died in Khairpur because of devastation caused by flood and rains while another death was reported from Ghotki district.

Officials said that most livestock had been safely evacuated from the affected districts, yet 95 of them perished in Khairpur, 89 in Ghotki and 34 in Sukkur district.

The report said more than 200,000 people had been evacuated from the three most affected districts with 76,165 from Khairpur district, 64,769 from Sukkur and 60,000 from Ghotki district.

A total of 131 boats are being used for the rescue operations, 59 of which have been provided by the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), and Sindh Rangers, one from a non-governmental organisation while 87 have been hired.

More than 100,000 animals have been evacuated and vaccinated.

The report also shows vulnerabilities in Ghotki and Khairpur districts, which could cause more damage to the northern areas of the province. It identifies Machhka dyke as a vulnerable point in Ghotki because of poor maintenance and encroachment and recommends strong vigilance.

Qadirpur Shank dyke is another vulnerable point in Ghotki because of Kari Dhandh or Meeranpur lake, which has activated due to erosion of shank dyke during 2010 flood.

The active river flow is considered as cause of vulnerability for Qadirpur Loop dyke where work on three proposed studs is said to be in progress.

The Ulra Jagir dyke in Khairpur district is identified as vulnerable where active erosion is observed and work on three of its spurs is said to be in progress.

A safe evacuation report of the PDMA said that a total of 85 UCs, comprising 1,622 villages, were affected by the floods where 344,860 people evacuated.

It said it had established 251 relief camps or tent villages where 51,038 people had been given shelter and a total of 123,151 livestock had been evacuated from various districts of the province.

The report said that among other relief goods it had provided 19,650 ration bags and 20,920 tents while it still had 1,670 tents in the stock.

The report identifies 14 out of 29 districts of Sindh as riverine, which have a history of being affected by floods in the past.

They are; Kashmore, Ghotki, Matiari, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Larkana, Khairpur, Tando Mohammad Khan, Dadu, Naushero Feroze, Jamshoro, Benazirabad and Thatta.

Also read: No flood devastation likely, says CM Qaim Ali Shah

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2015

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