October 31, 2010

Forgetting the flood victims

The floods washed away hopes, dreams and lives with
them. (Photo: Dawn.com)
And we left them in the sun to dry. Then we forgot about them and started talking about other more important things. Our lives, already quite unaffected by the devastating floods which took away whole swathes of land with them, became even more obscurant after the media decided it had wasted to much precious time in giving coverage to the poor and the devastated victims.

The sudden upsurge in the number of people who’re clamoring to stay “connected to the world” is sensational. But this beggars the question: Whom are they staying connected with? The world? Maybe, but with reality? That’s definitely a no. In the aftermath of the floods, the youth of this country rose magnificently and showed us all that you don’t need to be a known philanthropist to make a change. Normal people like myself went door to door, asking for donations and help. It was nothing short of a silent revolution; a panacea for social change.

But as with everything else, people need support and encouragement, and a genuine interest in their effort. That wasn’t so forthcoming was it? Bored with the intense devastation that we saw daily on our TV screens, most of us decided to switch them off till we had better stuff to watch. The people stopped giving alms by stating that they had already paid or donated, without pausing to think that a onetime donation could not possibly have sustained the damage that had been caused. Consequently today, at the start of November and barely two and a half months after the floods ravaged an entire country, the UN has made its dire straits public. The World Food Program only has rations left for one month.

They say they appealed for $600 million but only got $200 million in return. So how did this situation come about? Because we don’t care? That sounds plausible but I’m afraid that’s not quite painting the whole picture. You see on the national level, the floods were turned into a political road show, where a lot of noises were made, a lot of pictures were taken, a lot of fancy dinners in honor of honorable gentlemen from the ruling gentry were hosted, and the calamity stricken poor people were duly forgotten. When the caretakers of the masses don’t take care of their people, or don’t want to take care, how does one expect the masses to rise to the occasion?

What all of us forgot was that the 20 million people who were affected by these killer floods lost everything. They have no home to go to, no food to eat and no medicine with which to treat their kids. The state, which was supposed to be ubiquitous, seemed miserably incapable of handling the post floods rehabilitation efforts. The people who had initially stepped in to lead the charge eventually gave up because the state was nowhere to be seen, and besides, how long can a person go on without getting help anyway? People donated once and thought they had played their part and that was the end of it.

The fact though is that it wasn’t enough. There are still people who are in dire need of assistance and it is time for the people of Pakistan to step up a second time. Call it the Flood victims’ help 2.0 if you please but please, take cognizance of the situation. It is high time we remembered that we are helping our own brothers and sisters; that we are helping Pakistanis.

The sudden escalation in the spread of the dengue virus means that the flood affected areas, and the camps for the flood victims need immediate medical attention. Donate medicines if you don’t want to donate cash. Send in blankets and warm clothes because winter approaches rapidly. And kindly, rise to the occasion once again and donate as much rations as you can. This is an appeal for Pakistanis.