Caritas Internationalis

Mohammad Siddique risks his life as he refuses to leave his home. Photo: David O' Hare/Trόcaire

“We know there is danger but we will not leave our village. Our homes are all we have and we can’t abandon them.” For Mohammad Siddique and the people of the village of Billaualpur in Sindh in southern Pakistan the fear of losing all they have is too much to take.

This is one of the poorest parts of the country and has been particularly badly hit by the recent floods.

New flood threats are being issued every day but nevertheless Mohammad and others refuse to leave their homes. Their village has been partly flooded already and is surrounded by floodwater. It is totally cut off and can only be accessed by boat.

“We have sent the women and children to the government camps where they will be safe if there is more flooding but we are staying,” said Mohammad. “We want to try to save something from the water. We are also scared that if we leave then someone will come and steal our possessions.”

Mohammad and the other men are taking a big risk by staying in their village as there are fears that a nearby flood defence could give way at any time.

Caritas has been funding rescue operations in this area for almost a month, which includes providing emergency food rations.

Food is running short in the village and Caritas will be providing emergency food rations for the people in the coming days.

This blog first appeared on the Trócaire website

Evacuations on the inundated Thatta Sujawal road in Sindh, Pakistan. Credit Kamran Chaudhry/Caritas 2010

Bishop Max Rodrigues of Hyderabad has urged for credibility in handling the foreign flood relief.

“We do not want any defamation. Church groups are working together and we shall make sure that all flood victims are equally responded to. There is no room for corruption,” said the bishop before beginning Caritas relief distributions for the internal displaced people in Thatta, southern Sindh province.

Caritas Pakistan held on August 30 distributions in Thatta, Hyderabad diocese, which is presently facing advancing floodwaters. 100 families received food hampers, flour bags and bottled water. Bishop Rodrigues checked the lists of beneficiaries and reviewed the whole operation.

Vicar General Father Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad also attended.

Caritas Pakistan team and Hyderabad church leaders earlier visited the flooded road linking Thatta with Sujawal, a town now cut off from the rest of the province.

The floodwaters surged into Sujawal on August 29 causing two hundred and fifty thousand residents to flee. The water is now only 2 km away from Thatta.

Most of the beneficiaries were flood affected from Sujawal. Bushra Perwaiz, a widow, is one of them. She has been living at a pastor’s house in this Thatta slum for four days with her three children.

“I want to return home, continue my job as a maid and feed my kids”, said Perwaiz “I paid 4000 rupees (US$ 46.78) to hire a bus. Five or six feet water now stands in our town. I have no idea about the condition of my household”, she said.

Anila J. Gill, National Executive Secretary of Caritas Pakistan, said the Church’s social organisation has taken appropriate measures to ensure that all funds received from the international community are spent on the most vulnerable.

“We have a strong internal control for payment and procurement procedure. Plus an international accountancy service firm will handle the audit”, she said.

Monika Kalcsics, Caritas Austria, went to Rahimyar Khan together with her colleague Thomas Preindl. Credit: Caritas Pakistan 25. August 2010

By Caritas Austria staff

When the tidal wave hit Rahimyar Khan in the southern part of the Punjab province, Pakistan, it ripped everything away – communities, homes, and livelihoods.

The people in the region have retreated to dams which are kilometres long and wait for help there. There’s water to the left, there’s water to the right. The villages have been destroyed completely.

The fields are still flooded. The muddy water sticks to the mango trees. At least 90 percent of the working population earned their living with agriculture, such as sugar cane, cotton, rice and mangos. What was once a fertile landscape is now suffocated by water and masses of mud.

A large number of goats and cows, which represented the basic income of many people, have died in the floods. Only some of the water buffalos survived. The people still depend on food packages which are being distributed by Caritas. Too many children still do not get enough or nothing to eat.

“The hygienic conditions for the people are disastrous. Especially the children suffer most. Almost all of them have skin diseases, their bodies are covered in insect bites and they are malnourished or suffer from diarrhoea. Good medical and hygienic care is urgently needed,” said Monika Kalcsics of Caritas Austria.

Within the district Rahimyar Khan, Caritas has distributed food packages, water purifying tablets, medication and tents to 500 families. Another 500 families are going to be taken care of in the next days. The tents are on elevated, narrow causeways. Some areas are broad and dry enough so a number of tents can be positioned next to each other.
Caritas staff and their local partner organisations inform the people on simple hygienic measures which can prevent health risks. Especially the correct usage of water cleaning tablets is being taught to the victims of the flooding.

“It is important to inform the women because they also take care of the children,” said Kalcsics.

It is a great logistic task to reach all the people in the flood areas. In large parts of the country no aid could reach the people yet.

Thomas Preindl of Caritas Austria, also in the area, said, “We hope that the water reclines so we can get to these areas. It will still take weeks and months to do so. We still need every support we can get. The help reaches the people in need and every single donation is important.”

Gamul Mai, 60, developed a fever after escaping floodwater in her village in Sindh, Pakistan. Caritas is providing her with relief aid. Credit: Kamran Chaudhry/Caritas Pakistan

By Kamran Chaudhry, Communicator Officer for Caritas Pakistan

“Fever has gripped me since the raging waters swept away our mud house. I have never been that terrified in my life”. Gamul Mai developed a high fever after escaping a three feet water wave in her village in Sindh, Pakistan.

“We were sleeping when I heard screams that the embankment is breached. At first I thought that we are going to die. However, we managed to escape with charpoys and my six grand children”, she said.

Mai, 60, is one of the 200 beneficiaries who received food items and mosquito nets from Caritas Pakistan during a distribution in Khewali, one of the flood stricken villages in Kashmore district, Sindh province.

Mai also visits the same health centre with her two young nieces suffering from malaria and skin allergies. The widow’s family now shares a small compartment with one of their family friends.

Similarly Ali Nawaz, a Muslim farmer, lost a year’s storage of wheat and ripened crops. “The sugar cane and rice fields were almost ready. Now whole of my irrigation land is under water”, he said.

The family of Nawaz, 42, now lives at a nearby protective dyke where they wait for the water to recede. Placing Caritas aid in his straw shed, he continued “Many organisations visit us, take photos and disappear. The Caritas Pakistan team stayed for several days and selected only the deserving. It’s a good deed”.

The Caritas Pakistan unit in Sindh, the worst affected province, has provided relief items to 400 families so far.

“We are dealing with the whole province except Karachi . It is an enormous region with language changing after every 10 km. Long travels and threat of dacoits in interior region are our greatest challenges,” said Shamas Shamaun, Executive Secretary, Hyderabad Diocese.

Meanwhile, the US government says about 23 percent of the country’s cropland — or 4.3 million acres — is underwater while more than 9 million people are in need of immediate support.