Politics in Flood Relief in Balochistan

Communities allege politics at play in flood-relief

* ‘Ruling party supporters receiving bulk of relief supplies’

Staff Report

QUETTA: Flood-affected communities across the province have complained that relief assistance provided by the government is not being distributed judiciously. Affected communities allege that the government is using relief goods to reward political loyalties.

Speaking to Daily Times, residents in flood-hit areas complained that people who voted for the ruling party in the previous elections were receiving the bulk of the relief supplies. The rest of the population, which mainly belongs to the other side of the political spectrum, is being victimised on the basis of their political affiliations, they say. People affected by the floods said they were required to obtain certificates signed by the district nazim and the MNA and MPA of their area before they were allowed access to relief goods.
Balochistan Relief Commissioner Khuda Baksh Baloch defended the practice, saying MPAs and MNAs were the elected representatives of the affected areas, so their involvement was necessary. “We believe the MNAs and MPAs can help the government in identifying the actual affectees.”

Baloch told Daily Times that the magnitude of losses from the devastating floods across the province was difficult to assess, so committees constituted at the district level, headed by district coordination officers (DCOs), had been given four weeks to provide detailed damage assessment reports.
“Once the DCOs have submitted their reports, the provincial government will then be in a position to say what the actual scale of damage caused by the recent floods is.”

There is a desperate need for collective efforts by the provincial government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) agencies in providing relief to flood victims, the relief commissioner said.
He also denied that the government is preventing international NGOs from operating in flood-affected areas. However, he said the Balochistan government had made it mandatory for all NGOs, including UN agencies, to obtain a no-objection certificate from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and then have it further approved by the relevant DCO before starting operations in any district. “This measure is meant to ensure the safety of the aid workers in the province,” he said.
Various UN agencies have been engaged in relief work across the province after the floods. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched 1,851 tents, 4,464 plastic sheets, 3,250 plastic mats, 3,750 blankets, 100 quilts, 556 kitchen sets and 2,400 jerry cans to the province.
“UNHCR quickly responded to the relief call and immediately sent its first assessment team to Chagai on June 30,” a UNHCR spokesman in Quetta, Duniya Aslam Khan said. “We are providing help in Chagai, Noshaki, Kharan, Bolan and Dhadar by distributing non food items in these areas.”
Provincial health authorities maintain that the biggest challenge at the moment is to prevent the outbreak of epidemics. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been collaborating with district health departments, particularly by introducing a disease early warning system to monitor the disease situation and ensure timely action if any epidemics are in the offing.
According to the WHO, every patient with acute watery diarrhoea should be considered a cholera case, until proven otherwise, and a single confirmed cholera case is to be considered an outbreak going by the organisation’s benchmark.
There have been reports of acute diarrhoea, malaria, scabies, snakebites, worm infection, heat stroke and other diseases. Patients have reportedly been provided immediate treatment.
The WHO has also provided health supplies to the province, including 10 emergency health kits, 5 trauma kits, 6 first aid boxes, 220 anti-snake venom and 20 anti-rabies units, and 185,000 chlorination tablets.
The Balochistan government believes Kech, Jal Magsi and Kharan are the high-risk districts where WHO assistance to local health departments is most required.

Balochistan Home Secretary Tariq Ayub said he supported Balochistan Chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousaf’s call for organising an international donors’ conference on rehabilitation of flood-hit areas. Ayub said the Balochistan government would appreciate aid from all quarters.