Karachi: Whole neighbourhoods near the Ravi River have been swallowed by record flooding, forcing scores of families to flee their homes and crowd into roadside shelters. Residents described six to eight feet of water crashing through their houses, collapsing walls, ruining floors and submerging everything they owned.
The deluge struck suddenly at night. “We were sleeping when people started crying,” recalled one woman now living in a camp. “By the time we woke up, the water had already reached our homes. We ran to the bypass road and were later moved to camps.”
For days, many have been stranded in makeshift tents or simply sitting along the highway, accusing authorities of mismanagement and neglect. Survivors say canal embankments near the Ravi failed under the surge, unleashing the catastrophic inundation.
Health concerns are mounting. “My husband is unwell, and my son is sick too. We have no place to live, no clean water and limited food supplies. We feel helpless,” a mother of two said. Others said the floodwaters destroyed their fields and businesses, wiping out livelihoods and any sense of security.
Relief infrastructure has been insufficient. Displaced families report too few tents and scarce basic supplies. “We lost everything in the flood,” another resident told reporters. “We are sitting on the road with our children, searching for tents, but most are already gone. We don’t even know where to live now.”
They are now appealing directly to the government and aid agencies. “We demand that the damage be repaired and our homes restored. Without support, we cannot return to our lives,” one group of victims said, echoing a growing chorus of anger at what they see as an inadequate response to one of Pakistan’s
