SHANGLA: The northern areas of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Malakand and Hazara division, and Gilgit-Baltistan have been cut off from the lower regions due to the floods.
Local of Dobir Bala, Kohistan, Mohammad Saadi tells Voicepk that his area is completely disconnected and ruined. “The land, the shops, the mosques, the generators … all of these have been washed away in the floods. There is no exit route so we can’t get out of here, nor is there any bridge. There used to be chair lifts which are gone now. There is nothing. This is the truth.” He is desperate and frustrated.
“Where should we go? We can’t go east, west north or south,” he cries. “So we request the provincial government especially to make arrangements for our food and our medications – we need other arrangements too. Five people even died but nothing was done for them – no helicopter was sent, nothing.”
Shafique Sagar, youth councillor from Ranwalia Kohistan also points out the destruction caused by the savage floods and rains this year saying people have lost everything.
Hotels and other structures were also washed away in places like Kalam.
In the province, over 50 people have been killed while several have been injured, but even more, have been left homeless and displaced.
Shoaib Zada says he spent 20 to 25 lac on building his house during the past year. But the flood took it all away from him. He says both rooms on either side of his house were washed away by the floods on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan says that the funds have been released for the flood affectees.
“This year the floods were fiercer than 2010 floods,” said Mahmood Khan while speaking to reporters in Mingora. Flood affectees have to walk a long way to find ration and they have no idea when they will get their bridges back. Swat, Charsadda, Shangla, and Nowshera have been badly affected and people are now dreading more rains.
DISEASES
Meanwhile, river water gushes along the Shangla district, with the angry rush of a torrential river, taking with it the topsoil of the region. But the stagnant water in small localities has brought with it diseases.
In Shangla district, malaria and diarrhea are now found in almost every household.
Locals complain that every home has at least two to three people who are sick with either disease, and the outpatient departments of hospitals are chock full of ill patients, the numbers have doubled compared to a normal day.
Malaria and diarrhea have affected Tehsil Martung, Tehsil Puran and Mukhozi, and its nearby areas but there is only one government hospital for these areas where patients are complaining of non-availability of medicines.
Regarding the first outbreak of malaria in the affected areas, the citizens say that neither they have seen the Malaria Control Program officials on duty nor the Public Health Department has restored the broken water supply scheme in the streets. Due to the presence of water everywhere.
According to the data obtained from the government and private laboratories, more than 5000 malaria tests have come positive in the month of August in Aloch area alone.
In the affected area, there is no visible action at the government level for the increasing cases of malaria and diarrhea and no awareness campaign is being conducted for preventive measures.
Tehsil Chairman Abdul Mullah says there is an urgent need to take timely measures for the prevention and awareness of diseases caused by mosquito bites.
