Though flash floods in the wake of incessant rains have unleashed waves of devastation across the country, Balochistan province is the worst affected with as many as 130 lives perished in rain-related incidents so far.

Since the first spell of monsoon in the province in mid-June, no respite has been seen in rain havoc in the province where the life is in total disarray with road infrastructure badly damaged by flash flooding caused by swollen rivers, damaging the highways and bridges, and link roads.

Besides the highest death toll and loss of livestock, around18, 000 houses have also been completely washed away by flash flooding in Balochistan during the last six weeks, as per the data collected by. the National and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

The Noshki, Lasbela, Jhal Magsi, Khuzdaar, Pishin  Chaghi, and Zhob are the worst affected districts while the rest of the areas are also party affected by the ongoing torrential rains.

The Awaran district is also in a dilapidated state as bridges have been damaged and washed away by heavy deluges of waters due to flash flooding and is cut off from other parts of Balochistan for the last many days.

Even the train services between Iran and Pakistan have come to a halt as floods have washed away some portions of railway track.

Entire villages have been washed away by rains while the inmates are lying under the open sky with very little to no help from the district and provincial authorities. Though the Army and Frontier Corps are busy in rescue work in the rain-ravaged areas, the situation is very grave, and emergent steps at the state level are required to come to terms with requirements of the massive destruction as hundreds are still stuck in the rain devastations with no food, water, and shelter available to them for the time being.

Rains have also broken as many as seven dams including the Hub Dam, across the province due to which not only life in the doldrums but the standing crops are also in danger.

Though Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the rain-affected areas recently and had also pledged relief work by the federal and provincial governments, till now no substantial work has been in process.

He had also promised one million rupees each for the families of flood victims ad five lakh rupees each for the people whose houses were washed away by rains as part of the Relief Package, but what the people need immediately is food, water, and shelter.

After the 18th Amendment, it was hoped that the disaster management system of the provinces will improve and lot of the  Baloch people will also change for good as under this amendment, the provinces were given more powers over their resources, and the departments like education, health were given in their possession, but that is not the case and things have further worsened in the Balochistan province mainly due to natural calamities in the form of rain terror.

In Lasbella District, citizens are still stranded in flood waters with some taking refuge on the rooftops waiting for the authorities to rescue them. The footages on social media of people crying for help are heart-wrenching.

Floods and torrential rains also damaged standing crops in some districts like Barkhan, Pishin, Kohlu, Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, and other parts of the province

The devastation of the rain can be gauged from the fact that as many as seven dams in the province including the Hub Dam have been partially damaged by torrential rainwater.

There has been a breach in Hub Dam and due to the heavy overflow of water from the Hub Dam, the nearby areas have come under heavy flooding due to heavy deluges of waters. Authorities said that an emergency has been imposed in the vicinity of the Hub dam due extraordinary spill of water from the Dam which is in a danger zone.

 Meanwhile, after the development of breach in the Hub Canal due to overflow of water from Hub Dam, water supply to parts of Karachi has been suspended due to which the Karachi dwellers that were dependent on Hub water are facing an acute shortage of water.

There is still no work initiated in repairing and plugging of a 150-foot breach in the Hub Canal due to which the water supply will remain suspended. It may be mentioned here that Karachi gets 100-gallon of water from this Canal on daily basis.

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 02 2022

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