PAKISTAN / FLOODS UPDATE

As a part of a "model village" project, the UN Refugee Agency, Food and Agriculture Organization and UN Development Programme work to provide shelter, seeds and fertilizers as well as rebuild streets and sanitation systems in flood-ravaged Pakistan. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:14
• Production Date: 28 January 2011
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS; DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF
• Geographic Subject: PAKISTAN
• MAMS Id: U110128d

Description

STORY: PAKISTAN / FLOODS UPDATE
TRT: 2:14
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: URDU / ENGLISH / SINDHI / NATS

DATELINE: 20, 21 DECEMBER 2010, NOOR MOHAMMED MOWRRA, BALOCHISTAN, KAT BAHR PAKISTAN

Shotlist

1. Various shots, destroyed buildings
2. Various shots, Parvez rebuilding his house
3. SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Parvez, Flood Victim:
“Our homes were razed to the ground. We salvaged the material and restarted work on this. Let’s see what happens next. BRSP (Balochistan Rural Support Program) are helping us. We don’t have bricks but we are retrieving them under the debris and using them.”
4. Various shots, workers building walls
5. Various shots, truck doing work on road
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Hammidullah Khan, Balochistan Rural Support Program:
“We want to integrate all the immediate needs of the people…to properly set up the village as well as the restoration of their livelihoods such as the restoration of the agricultural lands with the provision of seeds and fertilisers to them.”
7. Med shot, Rashida clearing her courtyard
8. Various shots, Rashida's children pleasing in the rubbles, Kat Bahr Pakistan
9. SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Rashida, Flood Victim:
“We didn’t have time to pick up anything, even our utensils, our clothes, we didn’t have shoes on our feet. We went bare footed. I just picked up my children and left, and walked to Bakhtiarabad. Now I am completely empty-handed. I don’t have a single penny in my hand. I have no source of income. I haven’t received any funds.”
10. Various shots, Rashida's family
11. Various shots, Rashida cooking

Storyline

Six months ago the small communities this region of Balochistan was laid bare.

Last summer’s flooding of the Indus River washed away most of the homes and forced the villagers to flee just to survive.

Parvez and his family have live in the village of Noor Mohammed Mowrra since the time of the British rule. They lost everything, their home, cattle and belongings. Still like many others they have returned and are rebuilding.

SOUNDBITE (Urdu) Parvez, Flood Victim:
“Our homes were razed to the ground. We salvaged the material and restarted work on this. Let’s see what happens next. BRSP (Balochistan Rural Support Program) are helping us. We don’t have bricks but we are retrieving them under the debris and using them.”

The villagers put up the walls, and the United Nations (UN) Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and its partners help by providing assistance.

All of this is a part of a ‘model village’ project through promoting co-operation between agencies.

UNHCR helps with shelter, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provided seeds and fertilizers to the farmers and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) builds the streets, levels the land and provides a sanitation system.

UNHCR’s partner Balochistan Rural Support Program pulls the whole project together.

SOUNDBITE (English) Hammidullah Khan, Balochistan Rural Support Program:
“We want to integrate all the immediate needs of the people to properly set up the village as well as the restoration of their livelihoods such as the restoration of the agricultural lands with the provision of seeds and fertilisers to them.”

But a little further away returning villagers are less fortunate.

During the floods, the village of Kat Bahr was under five feet of water. Months later, poor land drainage has left large pools of water that prevent reconstruction.

Rashida Khartoon, a widow with five children, still struggles to survive.

SOUNDBITE (Sindhi) Rashida, Flood Victim:
“We didn’t have time to pick up anything, even our utensils, our clothes, we didn’t have shoes on our feet. We went bare footed. I just picked up my children and left, and walked to Bakhtiarabad. Now I am completely empty-handed. I don’t have a single penny in my hand. I have no source of income. I haven’t received any funds.”

Rashida also worries for the safety of her children. Their temporary home is cracked and unstable, and the pools of water are dangerous for her children. Yet, this is where she wants to live.

UHNCR has helped to construct 500 one- room shelters but more are needed particularly for the vulnerable like Rashida.

With the help of agencies and the determination of the people slowly communities are coming back to life but it will take years to bring them back to where they were when the floods of 2010 hit the region.