A Drought Stricken Country, Flooded

Recurrently being mentioned in the media for dreadful incidents in the past week, Pakistan is a country victimized by yet another deathly mishap which peculiarly happens to be a natural disaster. This year’s monsoon rains caused a calamitous flood to occur in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan – now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – and left infinite number of families homeless and destitute. Over 3 million people have been reported to be affected and about 1.3 million acres of crops are said to be destroyed, according to the Punjab Relief and Crisis Management.

Recent weeks have turned out to be grievously disastrous for the residents of Pakistan as they faced a plethora of horrific accidents, which lead to numerous deaths and repeated occurrence of the country’s name in the news. The nation had not fully recovered from the loss of their acquaintances or relatives due to a lethal plane crash in Islamabad, when another tragedy – pertaining to the assassination of a prominent political party’s member – evoked and intensified various acts of violence. Deleterious floods proved out to be another vicious blow to the poverty-stricken part of the nation – which happens to be the majority – residing near the flood-prone areas due to their inability to afford a safer habitat. Furthermore, to the nation’s additional dismay, Pakistani President Zardari opted to harbor a stoic attitude towards his indigent nation while delightfully cruising on foreign lands.



The already tarnished infrastructure of the flood-stricken areas has been deteriorated to further extent and it would be safe to deem it as an ancient and impoverished piece of land, seeking considerable development. The possibility of salvage, had there been sufficient warnings – suggesting evacuation if needed – beforehand could have turned out to be quite significant, but the notion of applying safety measures only upon a natural disaster’s occurrence has caused many beings to deem precautionary preparation as unnecessary. Timely and frequent maintenance of the infrastructure and river banks could have proved to be handy at the time of this disaster, but the financial support needed for such activities seems to have been disappearing for Pakistan, as – though provided by foreign countries – it questioningly never reaches the suffering souls and rather conveniently lands elsewhere.

Nevertheless, currently efforts in their entirety should be wholly directed towards the victims in an attempt to offer any sort of placation. Furthermore, government officials should devotedly concentrate on amendments addressing the presently impaired economy, which fundamentally relies on agriculture. Immediately subsequent to the restoration, be it even a slight improvement, an extremely extensive inspection of the committee handling disasters should be administered. Efforts to alleviate the injured have been initiated by various private organizations – such as BRAC providing flood relief by delivering food packets and sanitized water, Pakistan Red Crescent Society establishing a flood relief operation – but dominant decisions catering to solid arrangements for the refugees by the Pakistani government are yet to be seen.

Moreover, some of the progressing nations have also pledged to donate hefty amounts of money in order to appease the sufferers who are obliquely abandoned by the chief of state, let alone the officials secondary to him. Encouragements dealing with aid and assistance of any kind are highly incited by numerous individuals by the means of social websites, such as Twitter, Facebook and suchlike, in pursuance of significant chunks of aid enhancing the already-begun provision. It’s about time the government of Pakistan wakes up from the deep sleep of indifference and commences the work of building up an improved Pakistan.