People in Pakistan Afraid to Return to Flooded Homes

The Salvation Army in Pakistan is responding to catastrophic floods that brought widespread devastation to the country earlier this month. At least 1600 people lost their lives and two million are thought to be homeless.

The Salvation Army is aware of at least 3000 families in the areas of Peshawar, Charsada, Noshera, Jhanghira, Tar Nab, and Rasalpur who need urgent food, cooking/eating utensils and bedding materials.

Captain Washington Daniel, The Salvation Army’s District Officer for Islamabad, travelled to Peshawar to help assess the situation and determine how The Salvation Army can best help. He reports, ‘People are facing major difficulties. Most houses are damaged badly or have fallen down completely due to the flood water. River water came into many houses, rising to above six feet in some places. People are looking for shelter, going to relatives’ houses or to churches.
 
‘People are feeling hopeless. The Government and other non-governmental agencies (NGOs) have not properly visited them, helped them or prayed with them. They said that people from The Salvation Army are the first to visit and pray with them.’
 
People were afraid to go back to see their homes, he said. ‘Their houses and what they owned is mixed with mud. The buildings and houses are cracked and not suitable for living in. The smell of the water in some places is too bad to stand near. Human bodies and animals around the fields are still stuck in the mud.’

An initial sum of US$20,000 from International Headquarters and $28,000 from the Switzerland, Austria and Hungary Territory has allowed the local Salvation Army to commence its emergency response. At the same time, Salvation Army emergency relief team members in Pakistan are conducting a thorough assessment of the situation. They will liaise with the Pakistan Government’s National Management Disaster Authority to ensure relief efforts are not duplicated.

Andrew Lee, chief accountant for The Salvation Army in Pakistan, is a member of the assessment team. One of the first places the team went to was a relief camp at St Mary’s school in Risalapur. About 120 families were living in the shelter set up in the school, predominantly Christians but also Muslims and Hindus. Most have come from Syce Mandi where houses were totally destroyed.

‘I saw a lot of sad and depressed faces,’ he said. ‘Talking to some of the people there is no sense of hope at all. I felt desolate myself and, feeling the need to do something, we came back later with a box of milk powder (there is a shortage of some food items) and sweets, which seemed to cheer people up. It’s a token gesture, I know, but for me it was worth it seeing their faces brighten for a little bit.

In Nowshera, Andrew talked to three widows with children who were sheltering in another school. ‘Because they do not have husbands to earn a living and having lost all their possessions, there is little chance of rebuilding their lives without assistance,’ he said.

In Charsadda, refugees had pitched tents along the roads and hungry crowds were mobbing trucks carrying flat bread (chapattis). The Salvation Army team viewed areas where the worst flooding had taken place. ‘At times the mud was so thick that our boots were stuck,’ said Andrew. ‘As I walked along the streets, residents still living in their badly-damaged homes were surprised to see me. During translated conversations with the locals, it seems that no officials or non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had come this way in the past nine days. I was the first to visit them and again I felt sad that I could not at this time give any assistance except by being there.

‘One owner showed me his two-storey house, and told me the waters had reached the second floor. His family sat on the edge of the roofing for about two days until the waters receded, fearing that the house would collapse and they would be thrown into the street. All their possessions were damaged by mud and water.

‘Realistically, we can’t help every single one of them. With what resources we have, we will try to help as much as possible in coordination with the government and the various NGOs. Although those I talk to have no hope, I think maybe that, with goodwill and neighbourly cooperation, Pakistanis can rebuild their lives.'