By ETHAN Markoff
Some of the natural disasters shock the whole humanity, intensifying the belief system that there is something beyond the reach of mankind. A man is blissfully helpless when it comes to head-to-head with nature, yet all the development of mankind depends on struggle against the nature. The queer permutation combination of man and nature sometimes leave dreadful impression that haunts people for long.
The Pakistan flood is yet another example of natural disaster that has thrown hundreds of thousand people into adverse condition and finally caused a million people's death. The worst-ever flood in the South East Asia occurred about two months back, and still capturing attention of the whole world.
In the last five years, there had been other similar disasters like the earthquake in Kashmir in 2005, the 2006 Asian tsunami or Haiti's crisis in 2010. However, most of the stories went into the oblivion within a few days or week. The media attention moved from the disaster to the different humanitarian angles. But the current Pakistan flood disaster can't get out of the disaster coverage;every single day some new developments make the wound green.
Thousands of people are solely depended on the aircraft-supplied ration, as the roads and bridges to those areas have been washed away. The media coverage seems still lingering on the first stage, which covers the ongoing disaster and plights of the people.
Some predict that the flood is the most horrible natural disaster in this century. It is reported that almost half of the country has been submerged and about eight million people have been affected. The different relief organizations, namely the United Nations, Red Cross, Oxfam and other international organizations are trying their best but still the aid is not channelized properly into the right areas. The disaster has undoubtedly quivered the country's economy from the hinges. Relief Web has frequently updated the pages with maps, data, and reports on Pakistan's flood.
In a recent news, it is reported that a few more towns in the country are threatened by the rising water level in Lake Manchar. The lake is the biggest source of freshwater in the country and can inflict more people in the Southern Pakistan. People are moving from the towns of Bhon, Jhingira and other adjacent towns, which are situated near the lake.
The crisis leaves million people helpless and has strained the nerve of the government. However, the rising anger among the victims has made the situation worse. The sufferers complain that the aid is not reaching them quickly enough. Some analysts say the flood is more disastrous than the Haiti earthquake, the tsunami or the Pakistan earthquake.
''It looks like the number of people affected in this crisis is higher than the Haiti earthquake, the tsunami or the Pakistan earthquake, and if the toll is as high as the one given by the government, it's higher than the three of them combined,'' Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told to reporters.
The increasing number of towns affected by rising water level also invites media to play an active part rather than just focusing on the stories. A few has taken the initiative - The BBC World Service Trust has started a humanitarian information service or "Infoasaid" for the victims. They are also planning to carry broadcast in Pashtu as the Pashtu speaking people are mostly resided in the north-western part of the country.
Most of the media coverage is focused on the ongoing devastation as well as trying to pull up the affected people from the adverse position but as soon as the acute phase is over and enter into the rebuilding phase, the media coverage might be swerved into different shapes.
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The floods are not over and there still are many important
ReplyDeleteinstallations and populated cities/towns that need to be
protected/rescued before the waters enter Arabian Sea. The governments
(federal and provincial) are not equipped to deal with such magnitude
of relief and rehabilitation. Even if they had the money and the
resources, their ability to disburse the relief goods to the affected
areas will be limited because of operational limitations. Even the
private sector organizations find it difficult to jump in because of
issues like lack of access and lack of fund raising (because of
economy as well as the fact that most of the country is under water).
This is a reality that we face and we must deal with it head on with
hope and with courage rather than crying despair from safe houses and
News Vans.