The scale and human cost of a catastrophe beyond imagination

Multan: Five-year-old Sakina and her sister Kareema, 4, were eating a piece of ‘chappati' with onion in their tent in the flood relief camp where some officials were briefing the UAE media team about the plight of people and the inadequate aid.

Journalists are generally considered insensitive, but the sight of the innocent and hungry little girls just tore my heart and I remembered my children living in a comfortable apartment in Dubai with choices of food they like to eat. I just emptied my pockets on the spot.

And these girls were not the only ones in misery due to the devastating floods. In this area, some 10,000 people rescued from the flood-hit areas along the Indus River are facing the same plight.

The campsite is Rera town of Taunsa area of Deira Ghazi Khan in Southern Punjab and the only way to provide them food is by helicopter as all the land routes have been cut off due to heavy flooding.

UAE contribution

The UAE army has been playing a pivotal role in this area. Some 42 personnel from the UAE armed forces with three Chinook helicopters are busy round the clock rescuing people and carrying relief goods including food and medicines to areas where thousands of people are still trapped in flood waters.

The way the UAE soldiers are performing their duties since their arrival on August 6 in this area is being commended not only by Pakistani officials but also by flood victims. I flew with the UAE soldiers in one of Chinook helicopters and was impressed to see their professional and at the same time humanitarian approach in a well-coordinated relief operation.

The scale of the flood disaster is beyond imagination. In Southern Punjab alone, around two million people have become homeless due to floods

The UAE army's relief operation is focused on five districts of Southern Punjab including Rahim Yar Khan, Layyah, Muzzaffarghar, D.G.Khan and Rajanpur which are badly affected with more than two million people rendered homeless.

Though some 7,000 Pakistani soldiers are involved in the rescue and emergency relief efforts, an important role is being played by the UAE army's relief team. The UAE team has made a huge difference and has helped save lives of tens of thousands of people in the rescue operations.

More needed

The relief aid is just not enough. Most flood victims do not even get one meal a day.

The River Indus and the River Chennab which meet in this area have caused havoc wiping out everything in the vast area of about 125 kilometres long and 45 kilometres wide. Some 1,200 villages have been completely destroyed.

Thousands of animals have been killed while crops over millions of acres have been destroyed.

I left Multan on Wednesday evening in a luxurious private plane to come back to the UAE but could not eat the five-course lavish meal on board. I wish I could have sent this food to them — those two little girls eating ‘chappati' with onion.