The arrival of monsoon flavor in Balochistan has brought heavy rain causing flash flooding in spontaneous parts of Balochistan between night 21st and 22nd July. Barkan, Sibi and Kohlu Districts are the most affected areas. According to reliable sources the incident claimed 50 lives and severe damages to the infrastructures and livelihoods of more than 10,000 people.
As per details, the protective walls of Hann Dam at Bibartak, were breached due to rising of water level, ultimately resulting in inundation of numerous nearby villages. The major part of flash flood started from the breach in Hann damn, contributed by heavy rain fall and run-off water from hills. The flood moved from Hann to Nikri, Loma Zehri, Narkot, Singhali, Vatakari and Jabhar after this point the flood water lost its intensity and got spread over the plain areas. It is feared that if the torrential rains, continue with the same intensity, it might lead to further flooding in Kohlu, Barkhan, Sibi and Bolan districts.
SPO Emergency Response After the reports started coming in last evening about the growing threats of floods and possible threat to lives and livelihood of people, SPO Quetta office kept eye on the situation and early morning teams were mobilized for Kohlu, Sibi and Barkhan. Furthermore, SPO partner organizations have been asked to remain vigilant and start helping people within their communities and collecting information and data of the affected people. Two Civil Society networks have also been taking part in the response and relief activities along with local authorities and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA), were available. So far, SPO has collected the following data with the support of their partner organizations and local actors.
Human losses: more than 50 peoples are missing and feared dead, out of which 15 dead bodies have been recovered yet. Besides, human losses, major infrastructure damages, affecting livelihood of thousands of people have been reported. A brief of preliminary damage assessment is provided below:
S.No
UCs
Tehsil
Village
Affected Population
Details of Damages
1
Tali
Sibi
Tali, Sultan Kot,
12,000
540 Houses, Agriculture Land, more than 4000 Livestock
2
Mal
Sibi
Chandia, Qasir, Gola, Qasir Ghohramzai, Imam Bux Chachar, Juma, Garkhan, Old Mal, Hara, Gohramzai, Gorgaje, Korzameen, Gishkori
10,000
450 Houses, Agriculture Land, more than 4500 Livestock
3
Tharee
Lehri
Tharee Fath ALi, Tharee Brahmani, Railo, Gulab, Bagdar, Gola
7,500
7 People injured, 500 Houses, Agriculture Land, around 4,600 Livestock
4
Sadar Nargorh
Barkhan
UC Sadar Nargoh
15,000
18 Casualties,7 People missing
5
Bakhtiar Abad
Lehri
UC Bakhtiar Abad
12,452
3 Casualties, large number of household
Coordination with other Civil Society Actors and Government Agencies A meeting of various civil society organizations was held at SPO Quetta office in which 10 national/international and local organizations participated to gauge the severity of the situation. During the meeting following decisions were made: Key Decisions: • An information cell and data base will be developed at SPO office with the support of all partners • SPO Quetta Office will be focal organization for the coordination of assessment and relief work • For sharing information with relevant stakeholders, an e-mail group would be formed. • CRS will be the focal organization in Kohlu and Barkhan, to work in affected communities from their Loralai setup. • IDSP Sibi Office would be considered as focal office. • PEACE Balochistan‘s Dera Murad Jamali and Bolan office will operate as focal organizations in concerned districts • CARITAS will provide human resource for the assessment in Sibi and Barkhan • MRDS will also join assessment team at Barkhan • SPO partners and other CSN organizations will coordinate with CRS in Barkhan and Kohlu • In Sibi, Bolan and Naseerabad SPO will be the focal organization with the support of IDSP,CARITAS,PEACE-Balochistan and civil society networks of Naseerabad and Sibi • Concern international shared that they will support in relief activities after assessment in affected areas, they also shared that they have enough food and non food items available which will be provided to implementing partners after assessment completion. • It was decided that Fouzia Khajjak from SPO will be provincial focal person for the coordination and she will be responsible to develop daily based progress report and share with all partners working in affected areas. • SPO will conduct a meeting with PDMA to share all efforts made by different national, international NGOs to make coordinated effort to save the duplication of resources • Civil society network Quetta will contact with government officials especially PDMA representatives to strengthen the coordination among NGOs and Line department working in flood affected areas
Government Response Realizing the severity of situation, the commissioner of Naseerabad and Sibi divisions have declared emergency in respected districts under their jurisdiction and they instructed all health and administrative staff specially to be presented in the respected districts.
• Local administration have declared emergency in the affected areas. • The NDMA has released 400 tents, 800 blankets and 800 plastic mats which are being collected by PDMA authorities from Quetta Warehouse. Moreover on request from NDMA, PRCS shall take care of food and health care needs of the affected population for the next 3 months. • Local formation of Army in collaboration with Frontier Corps (FC) has also initiated its rescue and relief operation. Three helicopters have been earmarked and put on standby, due to weather conditions, for conduct of these operations. Some 60 individual military troops and four medical teams have proceeded from Loralai to the affected area in order help in the relief activities.
Immediate Needs The number of directly affected people is estimated at 5000 comprising of 418 households. The immediate relief required based on the needs of the people is as below:
