DADU: Three children suffered burns on Wednesday when they fell on smouldering cinders and hot ash of what remained of 70 mud-thatched houses which were destroyed by a huge blaze at Faiz Mohammad Daryani Chandio village on April 18.

Ten children died, 20 other villagers suffered injuries, four of them seriously, and 250 animals perished in the fire.

The children identified as Wakeel Chandio, Qazi Chandio and Batool Chandio were playing when they tripped over and fell on the charred smouldering heaps. The children were brought to medical camp temporarily set up at the village and were provided treatment.

Father of an injured boy, Jalal Chandio, said that ten days had passed to the deadly fire but smoke was still rising from the charred remains of the burnt down houses. The district administration was requested to remove the debris, he said.

Nadra team arrives in village

A team of Nadra officers arrived in the village and started the process of reissuance of national identity cards to the fire affectees. The team issued tokens to 90 families and told them the cards would be issued to them within 15 days.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority’s director general retired Commander Syed Salman Shah said that tents, ration bags and essential food items, according to the demand of Dadu district administration, had been supplied to the fire affectees at the villages of Faiz Mohammad Daryani and Noorpur and four other villages in the district.

He said the PDMA officers were in contact with the district administration to streamline distribution of relief goods.

Dadu deputy commissioner Syed Murtaza Ali Shah said that material had been brought to the village and work on the construction of houses had been started under the Benazir Basti project. Efforts were being made to complete the houses’ construction as soon as possible, he said.

He said that directives had been issued to Mehar town committee administration to remove debris of the burnt houses. Fire brigades had arrived in the village to throw water on the burning cinders, and excavators and dumpers had been brought to remove the ash away from the village. If any official was found guilty of delaying the clearance operation, he would be punished, he said.

Volunteers of Sindh Development Organisation, Goth Singar Tan­zeem, Mehran Engineers Forum, Thardeep Rural Develo­pment Program and Edhi Foundation continue to serve the affectees from their camps set up in the village.

HRCP team assesses damage at village

A team of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) arrived in Faiz Mohammad Daryani Chandio village in Mehar taluka on Wednesday to gather details about the fire incident and assess degree of damage.

The team comprising Zaheer Ahmed and Pushba Kumari, who had made the visit on the directives of retired Justice Majida Rizvi, chairperson of Sindh Human Rights Commission, inspected the burnt down houses, met heads of the families affected by the blaze and observed pace of relief work at the village.

The team gathered details about the incident from the affectees.

Imamuddin Chandio, who lost four children to the fire, told the team that when the fire broke out, he quickly contacted officials of Mehar town committee and Dadu district administration and requested them to send fire brigades.

He said that the fire was so huge and was spreading so rapidly because of strong winds that the villagers could not control it on their own. The fire began at 8 am Monday evening and continued raging till 8 am Tuesday but no government help arrived even after 12 hours, he said.

Jam Khan Chandio held the administration responsible for the damage and said if the fire brigades had reached in time the loss of lives and property could have been minimised.

Zaheer Ahmed said after 18 hours to the fire, a fire tender did arrive but it was faulty and was of no help. The affectees were living in the open in scorching heat of 45 degrees Celsius with no facility of drinking water, he said.

He said that temporary arrangement had been made to supply water to the village through tankers, otherwise, the village had no facility for water supply. There was no healthcare facility near the village to respond to emergencies, he told the team.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2022