After the Flood in Pakistan 38 Berlin Geographical Papers - Freie ...

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During their flight the people had to leave their homes unattended causing looting of their belongings and large numbers of livestock to perish as the animals could not be evacuated in time. At their return, the vast majority of villagers found their houses and agricultural fields completely destroyed. Since then, people face a daily struggle to rebuild their lives. Most houses in both locations have not been reconstructed for shortage of funds, and people continue to live on open fields in tents donated by aid organisations or other makeshift constructions supported by tarpaulins. At the onset of the hot season, this will pose serious problems in terms of health, shelter from monsoon rains, insects and snakes, and protection from sun exposure. 5.2.1 Ahmed Sorjho – a scattered village of multiple hamlets and diverse social groups The village of Ahmed Sorjho presents a complex spatial, social and economic setting. It consists of as many as 24 scattered hamlets that together comprise a village, or in this context a canal colony (cf. Fig. 5.19). The village lands are composed of limited smallholdings, where agricultural fields are located adjacent to people’s houses and where the majority of households engage in sharecropping agreements with bigger landowners. The sometimes tiny hamlets of a few households always carry the name of the head of a clan group in combination with the social denomination and in their entirety define the social spaces of the village. The social groups that reside here belong to the distinct groups of the Sorjho (also the eponym of the settlement), Jakhro, Lashari (cf. Box 12), Nahio, Sahto, Khalsai, Mallah (cf. Box 9), and Sayed. There also exists a village council that consists of one representative of each group. This council convenes only irregularly in times of need or when there is a decision to be made or a conflict to be resolved that affects village affairs. However, as partner for the implementation of project packages this body might be a valuable asset as a village-based institution. Such an organisation can assume institutional responsibilities and establish and safeguard transparency in the selection of beneficiaries. Economic activities in Ahmed Sorjho are based on agriculture and livestock, with a high degree of dependence from influential landed classes who control cultivation and bound sharecroppers (hari) to their land. Most villagers also own plots, but available land sizes are too small to make a living. High levels of indebtedness to large landowners for agricultural inputs (e.g. seeds and mineral fertilizer) lead to different degrees and contracts of sharecropping agriculture. Indebtedness binds people to certain landowners through generations and makes them immobile as they are “bonded” to the place. The same holds true for the fishing community in the village, who are bound to a practice of “sharefishing” where before the flood they were forced to deliver half of their catch to powerful and influential individuals who hold the contract rights for Indus fishing and forcefully extract the revenue from the Mallah community. Sharefishing and sharecropping 42
are vivid expressions of power relations that govern the social set-up and reflect dependency relationships (cf. Box 9). Data Sources: GeoEye satellite image of February 27, 2010 and January 22, 2011 (Google Earth); GPS data gathered on February 18 and 22, 2011. Design: Malte Haarmann Fig. 5.19: Ahmed Sorjho - scattered and small community hamlets of sharecroppers close to cropland The flood disaster worsened these already adverse conditions significantly. It caused massive destruction of housing and agricultural assets and led to the complete loss of equipment for the Mallah. All sectors of the village economy were badly affected – the autumn harvest was lost but credits taken for agricultural inputs will have to be reimbursed. Further, it is estimated that about 75% of the livestock population has vanished during the flood and was not restocked at the time of fieldwork. The proxy of local barfi (milk toffee) production served as the indicator for that estimation. Before the flood, barfi production was carried out in eight substantial boiling pans, whereas presently only two pans per day are in operation. Since all production stems from village based milk supply of more than one hundred households, it can be inferred that local milk surplus that can be used for marketing has shrunk significantly (cf. Box 8). 43
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38 Berlin Geographical Papers ZELF
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BERLIN GEOGRAPHICAL PAPERS Vol. 38
Page 6 and 7: living conditions, that reach the m
Page 9 and 10: Table of Contents 1 Introduction -
Page 11 and 12: List of Figures Fig. 1.1: Generic t
Page 13: List of acronyms ADB - Asian Develo
Page 16 and 17: mentation of development packages b
Page 18 and 19: Fig. 1.4: Pakistan overview and loc
Page 20 and 21: and man-made hazards are dominant.
Page 22 and 23: 3 Rapprochement of the field: resea
Page 24 and 25: The teams continued performing focu
Page 26 and 27: Table 4.1: Elements of the Vulnerab
Page 28 and 29: A major finding of the assessment t
Page 30 and 31: 5 Post-disaster assessment - distri
Page 32 and 33: As such it comes as no surprise tha
Page 34 and 35: away or even further, to Badin city
Page 36 and 37: Box 3: The household of Ali Bux - a
Page 38 and 39: Source: data recorded by ZELF team,
Page 40 and 41: consists of three overland wires bu
Page 42 and 43: mediocre quality - and the regularl
Page 44 and 45: 5.1.2.1 Levels of vulnerability in
Page 46 and 47: 5.1.2.2 Implications for developmen
Page 50 and 51: Box 7: Rajad Mallah: Coping with so
Page 52 and 53: their homelands in Thatta. Members
Page 54 and 55: make it possible again for the fish
Page 58 and 59: Box 8: The economics of barfi produ
Page 60 and 61: Source: data recorded by ZELF team
Page 64 and 65: 5.2.2 Alloo Noonari - complete floo
Page 66 and 67: There is a village council that con
Page 68 and 69: Severe shortage of money prevents v
Page 70 and 71: 5.2.2.3 Shelter, drinking water and
Page 72 and 73: 5.2.3 Summary of findings: loss of
Page 74 and 75: Similar to the situation in Thatta
Page 76 and 77: Data Sources: GeoEye satellite imag
Page 78 and 79: K.N. Shah assumes importance also f
Page 80 and 81: Box 15: Social water management and
Page 82 and 83: Potentials of changing the Sindhi c
Page 84 and 85: 5.3.2.2 Local impacts of the flood
Page 86 and 87: For all households it can be establ
Page 88 and 89: to goods and services the villagers
Page 90 and 91: The flood crisis has aggravated the
Page 94 and 95: provides shelter to a number of hou
Page 96 and 97: Most people in the village are not
Page 98 and 99: These conditions require most house
Page 100 and 101: Box 22: Struggling with disaster Mo
Page 102 and 103: 6 Conclusions: vulnerability assess
Page 104 and 105: perceived as an option, conditional
Page 106 and 107:
Most effectively, the problem could
Page 108 and 109:
7 References Arif Hasan (2009) The
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Berlin Geographical Papers Vol. 37
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