People hit by Biparjoy hopeful they can rebuild lives soon

ISLAMABAD / KARACHI, Pakistan (AA): As authorities in Pakistan and India evacuated more than 175,000 people with Cyclone Biparjoy nearing the coasts of both countries, those taking shelter are praying for minimal damage as the cyclone is set to make landfall Thursday evening.

On Thursday afternoon, India’s weather department said the landfall would take place in the evening, and its Pakistani counterpart also said the cyclone is moving toward the country’s southern regions, including the port city of Karachi, and is likely to cause strong winds and heavy rain.

In Pakistan, officials said so far 81,925 people have been evacuated from the Badin, Thatta, Sujawal and Malir districts and taken to shelters, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority Sindh said in a statement.

Fear, anxiety grip displaced people in Pakistan

Khattan, 52, said she can barely sleep due to worrying that she has to restart her life after the damage the cyclone might wreak.

Now staying in a private school in the small town of Baaghan in southeastern Pakistan, she is one of the tens of thousands relocated by the government to safer places ahead of the cyclone’s landfall.

Her town of Keti Bandar, home to 15,000 people, projected to be right in the storm’s path, has been completely evacuated by the government.

Khattan, who gave her first name only, recalled the grim 1999 cyclone that hit her hometown, killing hundreds and causing extensive damage to infrastructure and boats, the major source of livelihood of the local fishing communities.

“It took us at least a year to recover from the damage caused by that cyclone. I just keep my fingers crossed that it won’t do the same this time, ” she told Anadolu.

Her son Mohammad Achar, 25, said he was worried about his boat, which he left behind while leaving home.

Fishing is “our only source of livelihood,” he told Anadolu. “I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose my boat.”

Many of the local fishermen, according to Khattan, moved to the country’s commercial capital Karachi to find jobs after losing their boats to the 1999 cyclone, which reportedly killed over 6,000 people and affected more than 2 million.

‘New normal’

Over the past two decades, displacements have become the “new normal” for fishing communities as cyclones frequently hit the country’s southeastern coastal belt.

However, none of them came so close to the shoreline after 1999, and the magnitude of the damage was also minor.

“Although we’re relocated every three or four years as a precautionary measure, we haven’t seen such a strong storm since 1999,” said Kamal Shah, head of Fishermen Folk Forum, a non-governmental organization that works for the welfare of fishermen in the southern Sindh province.

Speaking to Anadolu, he said: “The safety of boats is our prime concern because we’re dependent on them for our livelihood.”

Building a standard 8.23-meter (27-foot) boat, a standard model for most local fishermen, costs 350,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,240).

Farooq Soomro, the top administration official in Thatta district, which Biperjoy is set to hit, told Anadolu that the displaced people cannot go back to their homes until next week.

“We have made arrangements for these people for over a week after the landfall, ” Soomro said, adding that allowing the relocated people to return depends on the extent of the infrastructure damage.

The government, he said, will send them back with tents and rations.

Army and Navy personnel have already been deployed to coastal areas to assist the local administration in evacuation and relief activities.

Relief and medical camps have also been established in Badin, Thatta, Sujawal and Malir to provide assistance to displaced people.