Through the waters of Pakistan
Posted by Jenn O'Gorman | in Concern Blog | 10 September 2010 | 0 comments
I travelled to Shikarpur, in the Sindh Province of southern Pakistan. I travelled along the main road as far as possible until the road itself met with flood waters and simply came to an abrupt end. All that lay ahead was water, under which entire villages lie – completely submerged, completely destroyed.
Submerged
It’s difficult to make sense of the images you see on the news channels but there in front of me were telegraph poles, railway tracks and houses all submerged in the water. In the distance I could see the roofs of houses peeping out of the water.
Deep water
There were many people lining the banks of the river. Some people were wading through the water with their belongings on their heads. The water was at waist level.
Getting by
A locally run boat takes people back to their homes to collect their belongings, but as it’s packed full of people, it’s only capable of carrying so much. A lot of the people whose homes have been flooded were setting up camp on the side of the road, carrying their beds and propping them up with sticks to shelter from the sun.
Public generosity
Concern are targeting half a million people with food, water and sanitation facilities, hygiene kits, jerry cans and tarpaulins, mosquito nets and kitchen kits. Our work here is only possible because of the generosity of the public. People have been responding to the aid distributed by Concern with immense gratitude.
You can help
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