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Flood shelters in Pakistan lack toilets, causing ‘misery for women and girls’!

In Pakistan, devastating floods have left thousands of people struggling to satisfy their basic requirements in flood-affected areas. The monsoon floods killed over 1,200 people and submerged about one-third of the nation. The overflowing Indus River in the outskirts of Hyderabad, Pakistan’s Sindh province, impacted hundreds of people, who ended up in improvised houses on a dry stretch of ground.

Drone footage shows agricultural and residential regions in Sindh province entirely submerged in water, with just the tops of trees and houses visible. According to Reuters, an anonymous elderly man stated, ‘Our animals, beddings, and utensils were all carried away. People barely managed to save their lives, yet there is still no one here to enquire how they are’.

According to a local woman, Sakina Bibi, ‘there were around 200 to 250 people living here. We got out (from homes) in such desperation that we were in sleeping dresses. Our homes were destroyed with our belongings inside. Even some thatched huts fell down over children’.

‘Nowhere to shower or use the restroom.’
People face several obstacles when living in improvised tents, which are sometimes inhabitable in some areas. The odour in the area is a heady combination of rotting foliage from drowned crops, abandoned food scraps and waste, as well as the collected faeces of hundreds of humans and cattle. According to AFP, Zebunnisa Bibi stated, ‘There is no place for showering or going to the restroom’. Zebunnisa and her family were forced to abandon their hamlet two weeks ago when floodwaters overwhelmed them.

Health disaster
Thousands of people are living in tent camps that have sprang up across the country’s south and west in the impacted areas. According to AFP, one of the most serious challenges in these camps is a shortage of functional bathrooms. It is a health risk for everyone, but it is especially harmful to women and girls. Swarms of flies and mosquitoes add to the suffering, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and illnesses. After several experienced rashes, some women have stopped going into the floodwaters to relieve themselves.

Based on the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 900 health institutions have been damaged, with 180 entirely destroyed, according to a recent story in a Pakistani daily newspaper. According to Dawn, approximately 200,000 instances of severe watery diarrhoea and dysentery were reported among youngsters in Sindh province alone in August. The study also stated that a humanitarian calamity is on the way. The floods has affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,325, including 466 children, according to the national disaster agency.

 

 

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