MITHI, July 30: Thousands of residents of the arid zone of Tharparkar district, located along the Indian border, desperately need relief, including food and medicines, and their predicament has become all the more urgent as the meteorological department predicts heavy rains during the next 48 hours in Sindh.

Devastating monsoon rains, which began on July 5, were still continuing, multiplying the miseries of the people of Tharparkar.

Investigations by Dawn revealed that the huts of a countless number of people had collapsed while they had lost their cattle and belongings.

They were sitting on sand dunes under the open sky as they have nowhere to go. This increases the risk of epidemics breaking out. Besides, they are prone to being bitten by snakes.

There are many areas which were completely flooded by the rain water as boats were being used by army personnel in the villages of different union councils of Diplo Tehsil.

In Diplo Taluka, though all seven union councils had been badly affected, but Kaloi and Bholari had been affected the worst.

The influx of rain-affected people from Badin to these areas has further aggravated the situation.

The chief executive of an NGO, Thar Rural Development Programme, Dr Sono Khangharani, said that army men in the Diplo area were shifting trapped people to safer places through boats.

He said that from July 5 to July 28, 679 millimetres of rainfall had been recorded in Mithi town alone.

Dr Sono said that around 7,000 families had been badly affected, which meant that on an average 70,000 people had been rendered homeless.

He said that only helicopters could reach union councils Kaloi and Bholari.

He assessed the losses in livestock and property to be around Rs30 million.

A 60-year-old man, Rahmatul-lah, in Kolhi Daro said, “I have never witnessed such rains in my life. These are really disastrous and even the earthquake did not wreak such havoc.”

The main reason for the destruction of the houses appeared to be their non-maintenance after they developed visible cracks in the January 2001 earthquake as the people faced financial constraints in view of the persistent drought.

The torrential rains have destroyed the agricultural lands that had been cultivated recently by the growers. They had sown millet and maize seeds, which they had bought with the help of loans.

People took shelter by occupying seven schools and college buildings.

Contrary to the claims of the district coordination officer, Tharparkar, A. Warrayo Mallah, it appeared that the district government had failed to provide relief in the form of food, medicines and other basic necessities to the affected people who had taken shelter in government-owned buildings.

Two villagers, Nando Lal and Parbo Lal, who had taken shelter in the Government Primary School, Mithi, said, “Fifteen families are living in this school building since Thursday, but not a single government official bothered to show up. An NGO is providing us cooked rice.”

The DCO claimed that “everything is being made available” and he had asked education department officials to open school and college buildings so that the people could be shifted there.