Rains & Floods 2011: Brooke Pakistan's Response
Rains hit 21 districts of Sindh, but nine of them are highly affected: Badin, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari, Umerkot, Sanghar and Benazirabad. Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Zafar Qadir said that 80 percent of crops in the floods-hit areas in Sindh Province have been washed away. Floods, caused by monsoon rains have affected four hundred thousand acres of land.
Sindh is by far the worst affected province, with torrential rains in the hardest hit areas having led to rainfall exceeding, in a few days, what on average accumulates in an entire monsoon season. The Government reports 22 out of 23 districts of Sindh are covered in floodwater as well as some parts of Baluchistan Province
These floods which are caused by the Monsoon rains affected all 23 districts of Sindh province in a way or another. Those districts which were not directly affected by excessive rains and flooding received thousands of displaced/affected people from the neighboring flooded districts. Other areas in which Brooke Pakistan works in Sindh province (Karachi, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Jacobabad and Jafferabad) remained safe, however Brooke field operations in Karachi were put on hold for one day due to flooded streets/roads on the 13th of September only.
After necessary review of initial reports of different national and international resources; Brooke Pakistan initiated the process of assessing the ground realities of rain affected areas of Umerkot & Tharparkar in collaboration with Thardeep Rural Development Programme (TRDP) and the Government livestock Department. Therefore Brooke Pakistan's mobile team was moved from Karachi to hold the camps (as these events were already planned later this year) to from 19th to 26th September 2011.
Brooke team in consultation with partner organization TRDP and the Govt. Livestock department, arranged and held 16 camps at identified locations. Through these camps emergency treatment was provided to 1117 animals, vaccinated 160 and dewormed 1007
During treatment BP veterinary team observed the majority cases were of internal parasite and ferriery problems (the general problems not related to floods) were also found very common. It was also observed that every family in the IDPs' camps had at least a donkey with cart. Donkeys remained the life line for the affected families in their time of need and helped them to flee their flooded homes/villages. It is also observed that many families are going back to their villages as the water receded. No other government department or non governmental agency treated or vaccinated the Equines, however other animals (Livestock & poultry) were being taken care of because of their (veterinary staff) less orientation about working equine animals.
Brooke is in touch with NDMA(National Disaster Management Authority), PDMA(Provisional Disaster Managemental Authority, Sindh) and other line departments for any future interventions based on proper assessments and their findings.