‘Nobody knows where their village is’: New inland sea swamps Pakistan

Mehar, Pakistan (AFP):

Beyond a hastily erected embankment protecting Mehar city, hundreds of villages and swathes of farmland are lost beneath the water — destroyed by floods that have affected nearly a third of Pakistan. “Nobody knows where their village is anymore, the common man can no longer recognise his own home,” Ayaz Ali, whose village is submerged under nearly seven metres (23 feet) of water, told AFP.

The Sindh government says more than 100,000 people have been displaced by this new body of water, brought by record rains and the Indus River overflowing its banks.

Across the country, about 33 million people have been affected by the flooding, nearly two million homes and businesses destroyed, 7,000 kilometres (1.3 miles) of roads washed away and 256 bridges knocked out.

Many still refuse to leave their homes, concerned their livestock — all that they have left — will be stolen or will die, and fearing a worse situation at the makeshift relief camps that have sprung up all over the country.

A new 10-kilometre mud embankment has so far held back the flood from Mehar city, with a population of hundreds of thousands. But the city has swelled with displaced victims who over the past three weeks have fled to makeshift camps in car parks, schools and on motorways.

“More families keep arriving at the camp. They are in a terrible condition,” Muhammad Iqbal, from the Alkhidmat Foundation — a Pakistan-based humanitarian organisation that is the only welfare presence at the city’s largest camp, which hosts about 400 people.

“There is an immense need for drinking water and toilet facilities,” he added, but they may have to wait longer — the government’s priority is to drain the flooded areas.