IT is the misfortune of the people of southern districts of Sindh that a flood has revisited the region. This time the magnitude of the calamity is not as high as last year, but the scale of ignorance, negligence and bad governance are as bad as last year as seen in breaches and rupture of drains and canals.

Heavy rains, coupled with breaches in canals and Left Bank Outfall Drain, have caused havoc. According to official reports, more than 1.1 million people in six districts of lower Sindh have been uprooted. Rains have destroyed standing crops of cotton, paddy, sugarcane, onion, tomato, chilies, fodder and other seasonal vegetables to the tune of billions of rupees.

Tando Muhammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Umerkot, Thatta and Badin districts, which fall under the command area of Kotri Barrage, are the worst sufferers, because rainwater has submerged different kinds of standing crops on 1.5 million acres of land.

The floodwater also damaged fish farms and poultry farms in Badin district. Reports said that around 1,000 fish farms and 800 poultry farms in only Badin district have been affected.

Similarly, the floodwater has destroyed standing crop on 2.5 million acres of land in four districts — Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar. Cotton, sugarcane, vegetable, chilies and some others are the major crops. Kunri in Tharparkar district, is the biggest chilly market of the world Tando Allahyar and southern parts of Hala are regarded as the hub of onion. They have suffered the worst blow. Overall 55 per cent of the standing crops suffered damage.

Likewise, torrential rains have severely affected the matured crop of cotton on some 0.3 million acres in Sanghar district.

Although the rain spell has ended, there is plenty of water in brooks and it is feared that water may cause more breaches in the drains.

Rains and breaches have inundated more than 500 villages in Badin district, and water is flowing towards coastal areas.

A matter of great concern for all philanthropists is the large number of people, including women and children, who have been displaced. They immediately need tents, food, medical supplies, potable water and temporary learning and early childhood education centres.

No doubt the state machinery is performing its role and the federal government claims supporting the provincial government. However, all humanitarian organisations and individual philanthropists also have to take part in the relief effort to mitigate the flood - hit people’s suffering.

TARIQ QURESHI Dist Education Coordinator, Unicef - assisted project Education in Emergency Jamshoro

Relief organisations

HUNDREDS of thousands of people are marooned in flood - hit areas in the home district of Dr Fahmida Mirza, the speaker of the National Assembly, and her thundering husband, Dr Zulfiqar Mirza.

Several breaches in canals and drains such as the Left Bank Outfall Drain, which is, in fact, a gift of the previous PPP government, remain unplugged. These canals and drains have inundated hundreds of thousands of villages.

Everything, including life, limb, livestock, infrastructure, and crops standing over thousands of acres, has been affected. More than 40 people are reported dead and hundreds injured so far.

The district administration has utterly failed to handle the situation and to rescue stranded people. The ill - fated villagers in the affected areas have rushed to various government buildings such as schools, basic health units etc., and set up camps. But those buildings are in poor condition and also devoid of even lavatories and other accessories.

A large number of displaced people who are passing sleepless nights and days under the open sky along canal banks and other higher places have not received any government help.

I am sure relief organisations, many of them still busy in the restoration and rehabilitation of last year’s floods in Sindh, will hear the cries of the destitute.

HASHIM ABRO Islamabad