Balochistan cyclone-affected protest slow response

Local residents in the devastated southwestern port town of Gwadar, in Balochistan Province, are up in arms over what they say has been a slow and ineffective response by authorities to Cylone Phet, which struck Pakistan on 5-6 June.



“Conditions are miserable. There is no liquefied gas because links with Karachi have been cut off and no electricity for five days so household appliances and stoves have not worked,” Fyza Musakhan, a local resident, said.



Gwadar residents protested over the rising prices of foodstuffs and medicines as a result of shortages. “I went to buy ‘atta’ [wheat flour] and some other items but could only buy half the amount I usually do because the prices have gone up steeply. Shopkeepers say existing stocks were destroyed by the water,” Ali Ghaffar, 30, another local resident, said.



According to the Pakistan Metrological Office, Gwadar and other coastal areas experienced some 370mm of rainfall during the cyclone with waves washing in to coastal villages.



Knee-high and waist-high water stands in parts of the town and has flooded many homes. The scale of damage is still being assessed. The tehsils (administrative units) of Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwani were the worst affected, according to local media reports.



“There have been some attempts to drain out water but because it is standing in the streets and in homes there is a danger of disease spreading,” Raees Khan, a doctor and health volunteer in Quetta, provincial capital of Balochistan, told IRIN.



Relief efforts



“The first step is to rescue people and then provide relief,” Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, Balochistan Chief Minister, told the media in Gwadar.



Pakistan Navy spokesman Commander Salman Ali said supplies were “being taken to Gwadar by ship as there are no road links” and that 1.8 tons of medicine had reached Gwadar on 8 June.



“We are also trying to save damaged boats and at least 60 to 70 of the 107 affected by the storm have been returned to shore,” he said, adding that “it will take a week or more for things to normalize”.



The Pakistan air force has been air lifting supplies into Gwadar. However, despite these efforts, the situation remains grim, local residents said.



“I have lost my fishing boat. A wall of my hut has collapsed and with my boat washed away I have no means to earn a livelihood,” fisherman Akbar Baloch, 40, told IRIN.



kh/at/ed