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Water woes continue for Pakistan flood victims

15 Aug 2007 13:50:00 GMT
Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Switzerland
John Tulloch, International Federation, Islamabad, Pakistan

Website: Website: http://www.ifrc.org

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The Red Cross Red Crescent Pakistan floods operation has made provision of clean water one of its top priorities as part of its six month operation. This is one of six villages in the Kech Valley, Baluchistan to have benefited from the supply of water pumps.
Photo Mubashir Fida/International Federation

Pakistan flood victims are resorting to drinking filthy, green ditch water as communities continue to reel from the effects of last month's torrential rains.

Seven weeks since the first heavy rains, stagnant pools of rank-smelling water remain, preventing people from returning to their homes and rendering vital arable land useless.

The lack of clean drinking water heaps misery on people having to cope with the Pakistan summer where temperatures are hitting the 50 degree Celsius mark.

The Pakistan government estimates 286,000 hectares of land was inundated across Baluchistan and Sindh - 50,000 hectares of this was crops.

The Pakistan Red Crescent and the International Federation have mobilized national and international resources in a planned six month operation, but to date has only received half the 21 million Swiss francs (US$ 17.6 million/ Euro 12.8 million).

The International Federation has mass water production units in the field and is assisting with cleaning wells, trucking water and repairing pipelines, but the job is a massive one.

Jhal Magsi is one of the worst affected areas in Baluchistan. This remote, poor and isolated community, 200 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta, has been cut off for days at a time. Ina Bluemel of the German Red Cross who's working on improving the water situation in Jhal Magsi says the situation is grim.

"It's devastating," she says "There is still standing water in and around villages. It is green and fungus is developing so it smells intensely, but people are using it for washing and drinking."

Bad water spells big trouble for people whose health situation is already precarious. Diarrhea, skin infections and gastroenteritis are increasing in the area. The worst of the flooding may have gone, but the health impacts are beginning to hit hard.

Water purification is one way of addressing the problem, but German Red Cross water and sanitation technician Claus Muchow says misunderstandings and misinformation about chlorine packets distributed earlier by other organizations are hampering matters.

He says men usually go to the distribution points where water purification chemicals are being distributed but are then not relaying accurate information on their use to the women of the household.

"During our evaluation common responses were 'how do you use it?' and 'the water tastes terrible, we don't trust it.' In a lot of cases we found unopened cans and packets of chlorine," he said.

Muchow says integral to any Red Cross Red Crescent distributions is explaining to people, particularly women, how to use the chemicals properly.

The International Federation, supporting the Pakistan Red Crescent is tackling the water crisis in various locations.

In Turbat, Baluchistan, 4,500 families are benefiting from improved water access thanks to Red Cross Red Crescent interventions such as cleaning wells, providing pumps and trucking 20,000 litres of water daily.

In Sindh, an Austrian Red Cross mass water emergency response unit capable of producing 600,000 litres of clean water daily (sufficient for 40,000 people) is about to begin operation, while three Spanish Red Cross units are currently producing 40,000 litres daily. A British Red Cross sanitation unit is providing vital clean-up operations and latrine construction to help combat disease.

In Jhal Magsi, it is planned to establish pumps, tanks and tap stands in up to 50 locations to provide clean water for the scattered population. Bluemel, who's seen her fair share of disasters around the world, says the plight of the people of Jhal Magsi is serious.

"They've pretty much lost everything. They've gathered what little belongings they have and try to protect them," she said, "People are just waiting for help, sitting on the dykes, trying to escape from the heat. They have nothing to work with."

Two Pakistan Red Crescent mobile health teams have been operating in the area for two weeks and are seeing approximately 300 patients a day. This is part of a wider relief effort by the Red Cross Red Crescent which has to date provided health assistance to 20,000 people, improved water access for 6,500 families, 7,500 families with emergency relief supplies and supplementary food rations for 14,000 families.

The people of Jhal Magsi are stark evidence that problems caused by the floods are far from over - indeed without continued help the will get worse.

[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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Last updated:Wed Aug 15 13:55:34 2007