KARACHI, July 1: Mohammad Ali, a fisherman, has recently shifted along with his family from the scenic Sunehri Point, the place where Hub River terminates, to a relative’s house in Soomar Goth, a few miles away. The family is one of the dozens who have been rendered homeless by the thunderstorm that battered the city a couple of weeks back.
“We will have to live here until we are able to rebuild our house at Sunehri Point,” Mr Ali told Dawn.
“We have reports that some 50 to 60 residents of Sunehri Point have moved to Soomar Goth, Shams Pir, etc,” Humayun Mohammad Khan, Nazim of Keamari Town said.
However, the Fisherfolk Forum representing fishermen community, says dozens of families have left Sunehri Point after the thunderstorm and rain played havoc with their houses. Mohammad Ali endorses the Forum’s claim.
Not only Sunehri Point, scores of villages falling in the limits of Keamari Town have sustained heavy damage and the worst affected appeared to be the largest one, Gabo Pat, which has a population of more than 100,000 souls, followed by Baba Bhit, the twin island, and Shams Pir. The other badly affected villages include Deh Allah Bano, Mindiyari, Mubarak Village, Muwachh and Lal Bakhar.
Nazim of Gabo Pat union council Mubarak Baloch said: “We have listed some 300 houses and 100 poultry farms destroyed or damaged in the storm and rain while the survey to assess the damage is yet to be completed.”
Inhabitants of the picturesque Mubarak Village said the thunderstorm blew away the roofs of most of their houses. “Most of us somehow fixed the roofs and mended the houses on a self-help basis,” they added.
Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who visited the village a week after the thunderstorm struck the city on Friday, found many of the houses and other structures in a better shape. He was informed that people had to do rebuild their houses on their own after losing hope for help from the government or NGOs.
The over 200-year-old village is quite familiar with natural calamities that had been striking it in the past. Only a few years back, Mubarak Dam, the half-built water reservoir meant for the local population was razed to earth by monsoon rains that also devastated quite a good number of houses and flooded most of the localities.
People in Mubarak Village said the local government did not provide them food and shelter which forced them to rebuild their houses on a self-help basis or move to some safe place.
While the affected fishermen community complains of the government’s indifference to their plight, the elected representatives of the area see the other way round.
UC Nazim Mubarak Baloch says relief camps had not been set up because none of the affected people was ready to stay in such camps. “Instead, they preferred to repair their houses or move to their relatives’ houses in some other area,” he claimed.
The villages along the city’s coastal belt are now bracing for the looming threat of epidemics that have already struck some areas of the city.
The JPMC has established a 16-bed emergency health unit at Ibrahim Hyderi. However, no such arrangements have been made for the rain-hit villages and islands in Keamari Town there was every possibility of the mixing of drinking water and sewage in conduits.
Apart from the loss of houses and belongings, the villagers have suffered loss of their livelihood. The thunderstorm has damaged about 200 fishing boats belonging to those living in Baba and Bhit islands, Moosa Goth, Khamisa Goth, Haji Darya Khan Goth, Siku Goth, Manjar Goth, Haji Gul Hasan Goth, Noor Mohammad Goth, Pir Faqir Goth, etc.