“The relief work is slow while rehabilitation work is not possible anytime soon, as the funding pledges by the federal government have not been met,” said an official in the Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Complaints of lack of efforts to pump out floodwater from affected districts are widespread. This is hampering return of flood-victims to their homes.

Ishaq Soomro of Participatory Development Initiative, who visited Jafarabad and Naseerabad for assessment of damages, drew a sad picture of relief and rehabilitation work in these districts. “While entering these districts, I saw thousands of people lying on either side of the roads, many without tents and hygienic food, clean drinking water, sanitation and health facilities,” he said.

He said many areas were still under floodwater and there was no effort to pump it out.

Soomro said he did not see any rehabilitation work going on in these districts, where 90 per cent of the infrastructure and irrigation system had been destroyed or damaged.

Government officials said Balochistan suffered Rs53 billion in damages which would cost around Rs20 billion for its reconstruction. At least 54 people died, 104 were injured and some 0.7 million were affected due to the flood, according to the latest figures issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The 12 districts, hit by floods, were Barkhan, Harnai, Jhal Magsi, Kachi, Qilla Saifullah, Kohlu, Loralai, Musakhel, Sherani, Sibi, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.

Among those affected by floods are also group of nomads who have lost everything.

One of such nomad is Nazeer Jamote, 60, who fled his village in Nasirabad district early in August. “All we had including goats and a camel were lost in the gushing floodwater,” he said.

Worse still, Nazeer and others like him have no idea what is in store for them for the future. He said he had no national identity card with him. Some soldiers who passed by said no help could be given to those without an identity card. They also said no identity card could be issued to any one who did not have a permanent address, he said.

Maurizio Giuliano, public information officer for the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says lack of an ID card will not be an issue as such in case of UN relief ,” he told this scribe over phone from Quetta.

Meanwhile, aid efforts are patchy. In Nasirabad Division (comprising Nasirabad and Jafarabad districts) only around 60 per cent of the 400,000 displaced persons has so far been reached with humanitarian assistance, says office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Agriculture and livestock sectors of the province, the foundation of the provincial economy, suffered heavy losses from flood.According to estimates from the DG Livestock Office, 1,048,856 heads of cattle have been lost out of the total population of 6,992,375 livestock in the affected districts. The break up is as follows sheep 463 349, goat 425,205 and cattle 160,302.

In Sibi and Barkhan alone, 4,080 acres of agricultural land have been affected. The gushing water washed away gundas (locally made clay and sand structures for irrigation). Water courses and channels that irrigated agricultural lands were also washed away.

Director General of Agriculture Engineering, Balochistan, Mir Abdul Razzaque Baloch said the torrents badly damaged canal system and washed away standing crops on 700,000 acres in the green belt of the province, mostly in Naseerabad and Jaffarabad districts.

He told this scribe that most of the affected people were farmers who had no money to sow Rabi crops. Since agriculture is the main source of livelihood for the affected community, short-term to medium-term assistance should be provided to it on a priority by the government.