Pakistan floods strand the poor while rich go to higher ground

Most of the crops in the district’s western areas have been submerged and fields will take months to recover, he says, while the city’s thermal power plants were also evacuated. According to United Nations estimates, up to 1.4 million acres of agricultural land in Punjab has so far been destroyed, and Pakistan’s Finance Ministry said earlier this week that the floods would hit Pakistan’s growth target of 4.5 percent this year.

Children awaiting rescue

On Friday, dozens of Muzaffargarh residents were still waiting anxiously for the return of a group of schoolchildren who have been left stranded at a middle-school in the Baseera area of town.

Bashir Hussain, a schoolteacher who is staying with his family at a school building in the main town limits, told the Monitor that two of his nephews and a niece between 3 and 7 years old were still awaiting rescue by Army helicopters five days after flood waters surrounded their school.

“We have sent another one of my nephews who was able to swim across and he is now looking after them, but they are scared and want to come home,” Hussain said as Army helicopters continued to fly overhead and airlift out children and teachers one at a time. The children are surviving on food dropped by air.

Philanthropy in Pakistan

The need for greater assistance is growing clearer by the hour as residents in flood-affected areas complain of seeing little or no help from the government or aid agencies.

At the makeshift tents that line the roads leading into Muzaffargarh, the poor beg passers-by for food and say their children are going hungry.

“The government hasn’t sent us anything. Rich people, the factory owners, send us some rice and bread once or twice a day,” says laborer Abdul Rasheed. “It’s been five days and still no word from the government.”

Philanthropy is common among urban Pakistanis. Civil society groups in major cities often organize their own relief efforts because they do not trust the government or aid agencies. "We don't donate to the government because we know it's mainly a way for government officials to make money," says Amanullah Kariapper, a software engineer based in Lahore, who has organized a group of college students to collect aid and open a camp for the homeless in the village of Shedani in southern Punjab.

With the advent of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, sharply rising food prices are also adding to people's worries. Prices of basic food items like onions, tomatoes, and potatoes have tripled or quadrupled at times.

On Wednesday, United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes launched an appeal for $459 million to provide immediate help to millions of flood victims. The disaster has claimed some 1,600 lives and affected up to 14 million people.

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