By Omar Waraich in Shikarpur
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Excerpt:
Two days ago, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, said that the floods may have destroyed crops worth around $1bn. About a quarter of Pakistan's economy is derived from agriculture, and nearly half of its workforce are employed by the agricultural sector. The damage is on top of the cost of 1,600 lives, two million people driven from their homes, and the lives of 20 million – fully 12 per cent of the entire population – disrupted across the country. Six million still need food, shelter and water, and yesterday the first dread case of cholera – a water-borne disease that can be devastating in the wake of floods – was confirmed.
The warm water is dangerous because it has the potency to carry water-borne ailments. In the relief centres dotted around Shikarpur, doctors report widespread outbreaks of scabies and diarrhoea.
On the narrow road that winds from Shikarpur to Mr Soomro's village of Rahimabad, traffic slowly flows in the other direction. Rickshaws, tractors, trucks and cars are piled high with people and possessions. Layers of beds are piled high amid fans, bundles of clothing and women cradling weary children. These are the last few to leave. Others have already found makeshift shelters. Many are scattered along the roadside. For shade from the blazing sun they prop half a wagon against a bed. The rest languish near railway stations or in government buildings.
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