NOWSHERA/RISALPUR The humid air of Risalpur, Nowshera and the adjoining hamlets is oppressive enough to begin with, but it seems heavier still when visitors come close to witness the destruction the recent floods have left in their wake. Collapsed walls, caved-in roofs and knee-deep water in houses, schools and markets. Where the water has receded, it has left behind ankle-deep silt and mud. In either case, the narrow streets of the town are no longer welcoming to visiting pedestrians; the residents who lived there till a couple of weeks ago and were chased away by the water have still not found the strength to return.
It is, in short, a dismal picture of human misery and devastation. The hundreds of displaced residents continue to find refuge here and there, as close to their homes as possible. Some have moved into schools that were not inundated by the floods and some have camped out at higher ground.
The less fortunate among Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's latest displaced populace are those who have found no school or tent to seek shelter under. They live and sleep under the merciless sky, wondering when their forced exile will end.
But for the moment the exile and the loss they may have suffered in terms of their property, crops and belongings recede into the background as they battle the demons of homelessness and shortage of food. Twenty-four-year-old Mohammad Arif and his 40-odd family members are squeezed under two tents.
“We need more tents. We need food and clean drinking water for our children,” he says.
On the other hand, eighty-year-old Nabi Gul and his ten-person family have no roof over their heads — not even a tented one while Fakir Shah says his grandchildren too have been spending days and nights in the open air where he bears witness to the war of attrition the heat and humidity carry out on them.
“It's hard for us adults; just imagine what it does to the children. The youngest is ten years old. We need a tent over our heads.”
But the main worry is food; and logically so because they will survive the homelessness only if they can find enough to eat. On the main road, the sight of people chasing after relief-bearing trucks is a common sight — on foot, bicycles and motorcycles.
“Some of them are even armed,” says a relief worker. “We have not been able to find a safe spot to park to disburse the goods.”
In a temporary camp of about 500 tents, the displaced people are ready to offer anything precious they have saved from the waters in exchange for food and drinking water.
No wonder then that the air seems far too heavy for one to even breathe comfortably and this is not due to the weather alone.
