Uncertainty, pain of displacement prevails in interior Sindh

HYDERABAD: The flood has washed away everything that was kept at our houses, we were not able to save anything except the children and the animals, a displaced farmer named Ganga Ram Thakur, standing at a bus stand in Jamshoro said.
“We lost our entire standing crops including cotton, chillies, onion, millet, melon and vegetables, which were our only source of livelihood,” he added.
Ganga Ram is like other community people who lost everything to the flood. The displaced Thakur community women, though, helped each other to share food and water to feed their children, were uncertain about their future.
They recalled how they got out of their houses and ran for their lives when they heard the news. “We could not take the risk to stay in the village. So, we came out instantly before water reached us,” Ganga Ram said.
Before the water came, the villagers were keeping an eye on the flood water as it was flowing distantly from their village. “The youth were staying alert, as we already have witnessed the 2010 floods,” he said.
Khair Muhammad Thebo village had 140 households, which were completely flooded within a few hours of the flood stream and residents shifted to safer places.
A village woman, Radha Thakur, sitting in the open with her children said, “We rebuilt the shelters on our own after the flood 2010 devastation. Now, again we have lost them.”
Kotri flood water gauge report on Monday said the flow was 552558 cusecs upstream and 522501 cusecs downstream. The irrigation official monitoring the water at Kotri said they are expecting to receive 600,000 cusec water within two days, adding that the water may rise because of situation in upper riparian area.
Hyderabad division has already been declared high alert by the met office, including Tando Muhammad Khan, Thatta and Shujawal districts, which are located close to the river.
Catchment area is the natural route of the river stream, where the politically influential people have got the forest land on lease and cleaned the trees for cultivation. The government authorities have unfilled claims to retrieve the forest land and restore the tree cover. But the claims are yet to be proven true.
The worst situation has been witnessed in Jamshoro district, where majority of the families are still marooned from the last five days and there is no land route for them to come out with their animals and belongings.
Local activists have said that only 250 small and major villages with the business centres for catchment area in Manjhand Taluka jurisdiction have come under water. They added that the smaller towns including Manzoorabad, Tangiani, Sobho Manjhand, Sukhpur, Unarpur, Budhapur, Amri and parts of Khanoth, Manjhand and Lukky Shah Saddar have been affected severely by the flood.
Hussain Baryar, belonging to Jumo Baryar, located close to Unarpur was expecting to move out of the area the next day but water pushed him back. He shifted his family to one of the small mounds in his area and came to Sahar Abad for buying ration for children by a local boat. There, he had to wait for six hours to return back to his village. He was upset as water was rising and feared to lose everything kept at his home.
Zulfiqar Thebo, former vice mayor of the union council Manzoorabad accused PPP parliamentarians and leaders of victimizing the people on political basis.