Pakistan's Sindh province has been severely hit by floods following torrential rains. The entire eastern portion of the province, which forms the bulk of the province's area and where most of the agricultural farms and rich crop lands are located, has come under water. Whole villages have been submerged displacing hundreds of thousands of people who had to take refuge on roads or in school buildings.

The flooding has been caused by unusually heavy rains in the province for the second consecutive year. The province had hardly recovered from last year's flood when it had to face another year of torrential rain; this time the downpour has been more than double the average, and it came at the wrong time when the season had passed and the crops were ready to be harvested.

As a result, the cotton crop of the province, which accounts for about 15 to 20 per cent of the country's total production, has been destroyed. This is going to impact the economy not only of the province but of the whole country.

The real damage from the rains is still being assessed. According to the reports about seven million people have been affected; most of them are sitting under the sky with no food and shelter.
Because of the suddenness with which the flood came, the people could pick up only essential clothes, and beddings and a few items of food which they could carry in their hands. That lasted only couple of days; now they are totally dependent on the food distributed by the government agencies and NGOs.

The government and military personnel have been trying to put up the displaced persons in tents in the camps. But their resources are too limited for the huge number of affected people.

To make the situation worse, diseases like diarrhea have been reported from some camps because of lack of clean drinking water and unhygienic conditions. According to one report the death toll from rain related incidents has reached 350. But if any epidemics break out then the situation may get worse.

Other estimates show that 2.4 million hectares of agricultural land has been flooded and half a million dwellings have been damaged or destroyed in the deluge. At the time of writing this note, the work of evacuation of the people was in progress. It is feared that the number of the affected people may cross seven million.

The government of Pakistan has appealed to the United Nations and friendly countries for help. The UN agencies are coordinating with Pakistan in providing emergency relief .but the task is too big. Not only the seven million affected persons have to be sheltered and fed, the thousands upon thousands of houses and the infrastructure in the affected villages have to be rebuilt and the damage to the large irrigation system has to be repaired.

It is time all friendly countries, the brotherly Muslim countries in particular, come to the aid of Pakistan to meet the big challenge.

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