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.”
