PAKISTAN / FLOODS UPDATE

Three months after the floods in Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people in the worst-hit Sindh province remain displaced and unable to return home to their villages that are still submerged under stagnant waters. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:47
• Production Date: 4 November 2010
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: EDUCATION; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: PAKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U101104d

Description

STORY: PAKISTAN / FLOODS UPDATE
TRT: 1:47
SOURCE: UNHCR
LANGUAGES: SINDHI / NATS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE

DATELINE: 26-27 OCTOBER 2010, JATI TEHSIL, THATTA DISTRICT, SINDH PROVINCE, PAKISTAN

Shotlist

1. Various shots, village affected by floods
2. Various shots, villagers
3. Med shot, UNHCR staff at IDP camp
4. Various shots, woman making bread
5. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Raasti Jat, Flood Victim:
“It may take months to go back home. Unless, the roads are cleared and facilities are provided, we will stay here.”
6. Various shots, Mohammed traveling to his village
7. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Mohammad Achar, Flood Victim:
“We are in a state of despair, our house is destroyed. Even sleeping mats for our children have been destroyed. Nothing has been left. We are in a shock. We have no money to provide food for our children and take care of them. We have no resources, what we can do?”
8. Various shots, Mohammad looking at destruction
9. Various shots, Mohammad with UNHCR staff
10. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Mohammed Achar, Flood Victim:
“We will stay here for three months and then go to our village but nothing is left in our village and waters have destroyed everything.”
11. Various shots, Mohammed teaching children in the camp

Storyline

Three months after floods hit Pakistan, hundreds of thousands of people in Sindh province are still struggling to cope.

Many can’t go home because large tracts of land and hundreds of villages still remain submerged under the stagnant waters. To accommodate the displaced, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has established 18 new camps in north and south Sindh, and more camps are being planned.

UNHCR recently established Hussainbad, transit camp for the internally displaced, to prevent spontaneous settlements created during the floods. About 70 families are expected to spend the winter here.

SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Raasti Jat, Flood Victim:
“It may take months to go back home. Unless, the roads are cleared and facilities are provided, we will stay here.”

For someone like Mohammad Achar, it takes 40 minutes by road to finally reach his village. When he made the journey back hoping to return for good, he was disappointed.

SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Mohammad Achar, Flood Victim:
“We are in a state of despair, our house is destroyed. Even sleeping mats for our children have been destroyed. Nothing has been left. We are in a shock. We have no money to provide food for our children and take care of them. We have no resources, what we can do?”

So Mohammad and his family are now waiting for the waters to recede which could take months.

Mohammad now lives in a temporary home setup by UNHCR.

SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Mohammed Achar, Flood Victim:
“We will stay here for three months and then go to our village but nothing is left in our village and waters have destroyed everything.”

He has set up a school for some of the children while he waits for his village to re-emerge amidst fears that the flood waters could hit his village again.