Thousands of villagers and nomadic herders stricken by a crippling drought have fled the deserts of Pakistan's arid Baluchistan in a desperate search for food and water. Half a million of their precious sheep, goats and camels have already died in the province, one of the hottest regions on the earth, where a two-year drought is threatening to bring disaster.
In the past few weeks 15 people, mostly children and the elderly, have died from dehydration and malnutrition caused by the drought, the worst in living memory to befall the region. In Nushki, a dusty and sun-baked little town on the edge of the Derband desert, 25 families with about 10 people in each arrive at the refugee camp here each day, exhausted by their long journey on foot.
Allahuddin arrived on May 1 with his wife and eight children after a three-day march, along with three ailing camels - the last of his livestock. He used to own 30 sheep but most of them died due to a lack of food and water when the wells dried up in Zangi, his home village in Dak region, one of the worst affected areas which lies on the Afghanistan border. He has erected a make-shift tent made of scavanged scraps of cloth which shelters his family from the sun but not the sand that blows in from the desert into the camp of Kisan Kuri, three kilometers (one mile) from Nushki.
Already between 4,000 and 5,000 people have moved to the miserable camp and another 3,000 are on their way, according to Major Ayub Saber who is in charge of medical services. Mohamed Akbar, who says he is about 60 years old, arrived last Wednesday after having lost all his sheep and three of his four camels. A week later he has received two kilos of rice, two of sugar and some oil to feed his wife and three children. "Now I have nothing and I have nowhere to go," he said, explaining why he left his village. "I will stay here until the rains come again."
However, the next rains are not due to arrive until next winter. In Dak, Akbar said, there was no rain this year nor the year before. The camp's administrators say they have enough supplies on hand to feed the occupants for another week. The first of the refugees arrived two weeks ago.
The food and supplies they hand out are provided by the government and non-governmental organizations (especially by the Muslim parties) which are very active here. Dr. Zafar Mengal said the sanitary situation in the camp was poor but could be worse. "We are treating cases of extreme exhaustion, dehydration, and malnutrition which is common among the children, but we do not have any outbreaks of serious disease or epidemics," he said.
Mengal said 50 percent of the new arrivals, the majority of them children, were suffering from malnutrition. Kimatee, who looks much older than her 30 years, holds in her arms the youngest of her six chidren. Zahed, a tiny seven-month-old girl, weighs only about two kilos (five pounds), less than an average newborn. Too weak to breastfeed the baby, Kimatee has nothing to give her except sugar and water.
She arrived last Thursday with two of her children after walking a day and a night from her village, where her husband has stayed behind with their four other offspring. Saber, the camp doctor, confirmed that the army plans to set up a new camp some distance away to accommodate the refugees. "We will construct some wells and set up tents to house these families," he said. "But we desperately need help to feed them."
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