Like previous years, 2015 brings no difference as the country is witnessing massive floods, triggered by heavy rains, devastating Layyah, Muzaffargraph, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajan Khan, Rahim Yar Khan and many other cities and villages of the Southern Punjab. The devastating floods have taken 42 lives already in different incidents, besides damaging crops and live stock. The floods have also damaged millions of trees, fields and millions of livestock is facing hardship which has forced the people to leave their homes from low lying areas to high areas. Without any aid or help they are forced to live under the open sky.
As per reports, hundreds of villages were badly hit; several marooned by exceptionally high flash floods. Pakistan is not facing flood challenges for the first time, as heavy monsoon rains in August 2013 also triggered flash floods and caused loss of lives and widespread damage to crops and livestock. According to Reliefweb, which works with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly 1.5 million people, almost 80,000 houses, and 1.5 million acres of crops were affected.
In other parts of the world in such conditions the governments brace themselves to face the flood situation through pursuing long term strategies, especially construction of dams at rivers to save people, crops, livestock and build infrastructures which can store water and also produce inexpensive electricity. Unluckily, Pakistan is the only country in the world where government which does not have a long term policy to handle the floods. The dams, especially Kalabagh dam, are not a top priority of the government. Political leadership has politicized the Kalabagh dam and is not ready to talk on this issue which can be a life line for the country’s economy.
KHAZIR KLASRA,
Islamabad, July 21.