REPORT ON FLOOD RELIEF – MUZAFFARGARH

A group of five IPSS volunteers went to Muzaffargarh on September 6. This time the nature of the visit was different. Previously, we were focused on setting up a medical camp there and took some doctors with us. This time, we decided that we should deliver some food items to the displaced people before Eid.We prepared a bag with 10 kg flour, 2 kg rice, 1 kg daal, 1 kg sugar, 1 kg ghee, bars of soap, 3 packets of sawayan, 1 ladies’ suit. We prepared 210 bags. 1 bag cost us Rs. 1250 including the cost of renting the truck, breakfast and lunch for drivers and dinner for volunteers.The first place where we went was Village Rahuwali. It is on D.G. Khan Road – 38 km from Muzaffargarh. We were told that we were the first group of people to reach the village after the road was reconstructed. On our way we witnessed a truck of ration being looted by the villagers who had been waiting for relief goods for several days. Village Rahuwali is a small village with 50 households. We distributed 50 bags after people properly identified themselves.Then we went to Ghazighat Band where a huge number of people were settled in camps. We distributed 110 bags there, and on our way back 25 bags each in Mehnga Hareeja and Pitafi.Visiting these areas is always depressing as the magnitude of the catastrophe is so huge that these small efforts do not seem to make a huge difference.We will be going to the same area with a team of doctors and medicines over the coming weekend. In the future, we would like to generate more funds to help with the reconstruction of one of these villages and facilitate the rehabilitation process for its inhabitants.