Dubai Telegraph - Relief and desperation in Pakistan's makeshift flood camps

EUR -
AED 3.902662
AFN 71.721309
ALL 97.379693
AMD 411.736337
ANG 1.916033
AOA 969.546232
ARS 1060.127839
AUD 1.625131
AWG 1.914127
AZN 1.801069
BAM 1.95799
BBD 2.146602
BDT 127.04809
BGN 1.957961
BHD 0.40045
BIF 3079.178589
BMD 1.062518
BND 1.422859
BOB 7.372594
BRL 6.109269
BSD 1.063139
BTN 89.778648
BWP 14.463859
BYN 3.479155
BYR 20825.362437
BZD 2.142898
CAD 1.481204
CDF 3048.36535
CHF 0.93686
CLF 0.037964
CLP 1047.547807
CNY 7.684238
COP 4713.916414
CRC 544.034137
CUC 1.062518
CUP 28.15674
CVE 110.873467
CZK 25.383911
DJF 188.83088
DKK 7.460262
DOP 64.017024
DZD 141.785204
EGP 52.286219
ETB 129.094855
FJD 2.403428
GBP 0.833407
GEL 2.911181
GHS 17.441278
GMD 75.96944
GNF 9170.597089
GTQ 8.215576
GYD 222.406682
HKD 8.263897
HNL 26.62657
HTG 139.832992
HUF 410.833148
IDR 16783.435843
ILS 3.990905
INR 89.664885
IQD 1391.899224
IRR 44737.341364
ISK 147.509645
JMD 168.928957
JOD 0.753435
JPY 164.266469
KES 137.598404
KGS 91.590977
KHR 4308.512491
KMF 489.156922
KRW 1495.616936
KWD 0.326842
KYD 0.885933
KZT 527.584963
LAK 23332.906547
LBP 95201.656596
LKR 310.88237
LRD 196.937992
LSL 19.305457
LTL 3.137341
LVL 0.642707
LYD 5.169153
MAD 10.541246
MDL 19.030182
MGA 4930.08572
MKD 61.689003
MMK 3451.018615
MOP 8.517928
MRU 42.388737
MUR 50.055102
MVR 16.426769
MWK 1843.46991
MXN 21.859829
MYR 4.714381
MZN 67.921539
NAD 19.306154
NGN 1777.25314
NIO 39.074133
NOK 11.766909
NPR 143.645436
NZD 1.791815
OMR 0.409087
PAB 1.063139
PEN 4.025844
PGK 4.265746
PHP 62.428268
PKR 295.327037
PLN 4.352023
PYG 8306.291093
QAR 3.868364
RON 4.977046
RSD 116.988606
RUB 104.392478
RWF 1451.40026
SAR 3.992277
SBD 8.862205
SCR 14.442803
SDG 639.107629
SEK 11.579093
SGD 1.422059
SLE 24.21852
SOS 607.24094
SRD 37.43785
STD 21991.987562
SVC 9.302844
SZL 18.732581
THB 36.986341
TJS 11.300434
TMT 3.72944
TND 3.344276
TOP 2.488527
TRY 36.515562
TTD 7.224421
TWD 34.473942
TZS 2828.280754
UAH 44.030751
UGX 3906.553553
USD 1.062518
UYU 44.822246
UZS 13632.112684
VES 47.682447
VND 26934.843765
XAF 656.722488
XCD 2.871509
XDR 0.800934
XOF 646.010986
XPF 119.331742
YER 265.443696
ZAR 19.237269
ZMK 9563.943308
ZMW 28.943737
ZWL 342.130521
  • RBGPF

    0.0300

    60.22

    +0.05%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    24.54

    -0.73%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    13.67

    +0.15%

  • BCC

    -2.0100

    141.13

    -1.42%

  • RELX

    -1.2100

    46.59

    -2.6%

  • GSK

    -0.8300

    35.52

    -2.34%

  • AZN

    0.4000

    65.19

    +0.61%

  • RIO

    -1.4000

    61.2

    -2.29%

  • NGG

    -1.2400

    62.9

    -1.97%

  • CMSD

    -0.2100

    24.75

    -0.85%

  • BTI

    0.0900

    35.24

    +0.26%

  • JRI

    -0.3000

    13.22

    -2.27%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1700

    7.16

    -2.37%

  • BCE

    -0.1600

    27.69

    -0.58%

  • BP

    -0.7600

    28.16

    -2.7%

  • VOD

    -0.8500

    8.47

    -10.04%

Relief and desperation in Pakistan's makeshift flood camps
Relief and desperation in Pakistan's makeshift flood camps / Photo: Abdul MAJEED - AFP

Relief and desperation in Pakistan's makeshift flood camps

Makeshift camps have sprung up all over Pakistan -- in schools, along motorways and at military bases -- to give shelter to millions of displaced flood victims.

Text size:

But the relief at finding safety can turn to desperation for many.

In the northwestern town of Nowshera, a technical college was turned into a shelter for up to 2,500 flood victims, who sweltered in the summer heat with sporadic food aid and little access to water for bathing.

"We have been only eating rice for the past three days," 60-year-old Malang Jan told AFP.

"I never thought that one day we will have to live like this. We have lost our heaven and are now forced to live a miserable life."

Jan's family were rescued by boat when his home was submerged in the floods that have swamped a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people and affecting tens of millions more.

The college gardens are lined with tents -- the classrooms are filled with the families who arrived first and grabbed the chance for privacy.

Others rest shoulder-to-shoulder in corridors with their meagre bundles of belongings.

Goats and chickens salvaged from the rising water graze in the campus courtyard.

The camp of 2,500 is managed by various charities, political parties and administrative officials overwhelmed by the scale of the disaster.

Volunteers hand out tents, mattresses, water, daal and naan.

"It's a situation of panic," said Mushfiq ur Rehman, a district court official who stepped in to oversee food delivery for the local administration.

"There is enough food, but people are getting desperate because they don't trust if they will get a meal again or not."

- 'We're humiliated' -

It is particularly difficult for women in this deeply conservative region of the country, where the all-covering burqa is commonly worn, and women rarely mix with men who are not relatives.

"We are Pashtun people; we don't come out of our homes often, but now we are forced to come out," said Yasmin Shah, 56, who is sheltered in a classroom with her family.

Young women with burqas pulled up over their heads watch from upper floors.

"I cannot come out of this classroom unless I have to," added another, looking after a blind uncle.

Older women take their place in queues to ensure they get a share of food handouts.

The heat is worsened when the few working fans stop working because of power cuts. There are no showers and only a few toilets available for the displaced.

"Our self respect is at stake... I stink but there is no place to take a shower," said Fazal e Malik, who is staying with seven family members in a tent.

"Our women are also facing problems and they too feel humiliated."

When food aid arrives at the college, desperate families mob the trucks, and are sometimes pushed back by police armed with long sticks.

"People send relief goods here but the distribution is not well organised at all," Yasmin said.

"There are routine scuffles and people have to fight to get some food. In the end, some people have a bigger share and others have nothing."

The largest camp in the town was set up at the Pakistan Air Force academy centre, sheltering a further 3,000 people in the accommodation usually reserved for training staff.

Nearby, armed members of a local political party have stepped in to protect abandoned homes, using rowing boats to navigate the flooded streets and watch for looters.

For some fleeing the deluge across the country, the only dry areas are elevated roads and railroad tracks, alongside which tens of thousands of poor rural folk have taken shelter with their livestock.

A.Padmanabhan--DT