As thousands of people fled villages around the Muzaffargarh area in southern Punjab early in August to avoid the approaching floods, they encountered a strange sight.
"We saw currency notes floating in the water that had travelled downstream. There were hundred [about US$1] rupee notes, some 500 rupee bills [$5]; it is impossible to say how many, because people quickly snatched them up," Tanvir Hussain, 30, a flood victim from Muzaffargarh, told IRIN.
He believes the money may have been savings carried away from homes by the flood water. People returning to their villages as waters recede have in some cases reported the loss of valuables from destroyed homes.
"I had nearly Rs100,000 [about $1,176] in cash buried in an earthen jar under the mud floor of my home. There was confusion as we fled and I thought my wife had retrieved it. But we both failed to do so, and now the money has gone," said Muhammad Rafiq, who returned to his destroyed home in his village in the southern Punjab district of Rahim Yar Khan.
Rafiq, 68, had been saving up the money to pay for the heart surgery his wife needs. "But we could have used it to rebuild our house," he told IRIN.
Rafiq has nothing now, having lost hens, goats, a cow and his house in the flood. He says he has received no compensation from the government. While Rs20,000 (about $235) have been distributed to some 300,000 flood survivors, according to the National Database and Registration Authority, media reports allege the scheme was flawed.
Restoring livelihoods
"There are many difficulties for people going back, but also many are just waiting for government help in camps, instead of going back to their homes and trying to rebuild lives," said Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, speaking to IRIN from Karachi. "The Edhi Foundation plans to distribute seed and fertilizer so that livelihoods can be restored. This is a chief concern right now."
He said the government planned to distribute further compensation to rebuild houses but was hampered because of "fraudulent claims".
Distrust
While there are banks in towns and some villages across Pakistan, in a country where the literacy rate still hovers around 55 percent, according to official figures, many people, especially in rural areas, do not trust them.
"I don't trust them to keep my jewellery safe," said Sidiqa Bibi, 50, who keeps her gold bangles and a few other ornaments in a small iron box stowed away inside a trunk.
Bibi, who lives in the town of Rahim Yar Khan, was able to save her valuables but says: "My sister lost gold worth Rs50,000 [about $588] after her house was flooded in her husband's village."
She says her sister had educated her three daughters by selling off small amounts of gold to pay the fees as their father "refused to pay for the education of girls, and now they will have to quit school".
"People still don't trust banks. The tradition is to keep valuables with them. People store money in the structures of their homes, or bury them, while women sometimes sew jewellery into quilts," said Muhammad Sajjad, a money-lender. He said: "People have no use for banks as without collateral they cannot gain access to credit anyway."
There are no assessments yet as to how much monetary loss the floods have inflicted. But with an area of about 50,000 sqkm ravaged; more than 2.4 million hectares of crops lost and over 1.9 million homes destroyed or damaged, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), many families have lost everything.
"Though people have started returning to their areas of origin, still there are literally millions of people out there who have nothing because they lost everything in floods. The sheer scale of this disaster is really beyond comprehension," International Organization for Migration (IOM) regional representative for West and Central Asia, Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, told IRIN from Islamabad.
Ibrahim Mughal, Chairman of Pakistan Agriculture Council, told IRIN: "The picture is really bleak. So much has been lost and even harder days lie ahead."
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"We saw currency notes floating in the water that had travelled downstream. There were hundred [about US$1] rupee notes, some 500 rupee bills [$5]; it is impossible to say how many, because people quickly snatched them up," Tanvir Hussain, 30, a flood victim from Muzaffargarh, told IRIN.
He believes the money may have been savings carried away from homes by the flood water. People returning to their villages as waters recede have in some cases reported the loss of valuables from destroyed homes.
"I had nearly Rs100,000 [about $1,176] in cash buried in an earthen jar under the mud floor of my home. There was confusion as we fled and I thought my wife had retrieved it. But we both failed to do so, and now the money has gone," said Muhammad Rafiq, who returned to his destroyed home in his village in the southern Punjab district of Rahim Yar Khan.
Rafiq, 68, had been saving up the money to pay for the heart surgery his wife needs. "But we could have used it to rebuild our house," he told IRIN.
Rafiq has nothing now, having lost hens, goats, a cow and his house in the flood. He says he has received no compensation from the government. While Rs20,000 (about $235) have been distributed to some 300,000 flood survivors, according to the National Database and Registration Authority, media reports allege the scheme was flawed.
Restoring livelihoods
"There are many difficulties for people going back, but also many are just waiting for government help in camps, instead of going back to their homes and trying to rebuild lives," said Anwar Kazmi, a spokesman for the Edhi Foundation, speaking to IRIN from Karachi. "The Edhi Foundation plans to distribute seed and fertilizer so that livelihoods can be restored. This is a chief concern right now."
Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN  |
| Small amounts of gold offer families some security |
Distrust
While there are banks in towns and some villages across Pakistan, in a country where the literacy rate still hovers around 55 percent, according to official figures, many people, especially in rural areas, do not trust them.
"I don't trust them to keep my jewellery safe," said Sidiqa Bibi, 50, who keeps her gold bangles and a few other ornaments in a small iron box stowed away inside a trunk.
Bibi, who lives in the town of Rahim Yar Khan, was able to save her valuables but says: "My sister lost gold worth Rs50,000 [about $588] after her house was flooded in her husband's village."
She says her sister had educated her three daughters by selling off small amounts of gold to pay the fees as their father "refused to pay for the education of girls, and now they will have to quit school".
"People still don't trust banks. The tradition is to keep valuables with them. People store money in the structures of their homes, or bury them, while women sometimes sew jewellery into quilts," said Muhammad Sajjad, a money-lender. He said: "People have no use for banks as without collateral they cannot gain access to credit anyway."
There are no assessments yet as to how much monetary loss the floods have inflicted. But with an area of about 50,000 sqkm ravaged; more than 2.4 million hectares of crops lost and over 1.9 million homes destroyed or damaged, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), many families have lost everything.
"Though people have started returning to their areas of origin, still there are literally millions of people out there who have nothing because they lost everything in floods. The sheer scale of this disaster is really beyond comprehension," International Organization for Migration (IOM) regional representative for West and Central Asia, Hassan Abdel Moneim Mostafa, told IRIN from Islamabad.
Ibrahim Mughal, Chairman of Pakistan Agriculture Council, told IRIN: "The picture is really bleak. So much has been lost and even harder days lie ahead."
kh/at/mw
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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