KARACHI: As relief efforts to get much-needed supplies to flood victims continue across the country, videos have emerged of areas where flour bags, dropped by helicopters, seem to have burst upon impact, scattering their contents to the wind.

Videos shared by several social media users showed a crowd of flood victims — including men and young boys — rushing towards the site of an aid drop. The downforce generated by the helicopter’s rotors creates a strong wind, and a white powder is seen swirling in the air.

As the video continues, it becomes clear that the white powder is flour which has spilled out of aid bags that were dropped. Most of the flood-hit people can be seen trying to secure whatever flour is left in the bags, while others try to scrape it off the ground, mixing it with dirt and loose pebbles.

However, according to an armed forces official who has been involved in aerial operations, the team performing the ration drop could not have been one of theirs.

“We cannot throw food items and ration packs willy-nilly, because it is a responsibility that we are carrying out, not throwing something into a dustbin. It would be a complete waste of fuel and effort if we carried out the distribution of relief goods from the air like that,” the official said.

Sharing the SOPs invol­ved in dropping goods by air, the official revealed that the pilot’s first priority is to try and find a suitable place to land.

“If the surface is uneven and there is no way to land without risk, then they drop the packages, and those too from no more than 10 feet, in order to ensure the safe landing of the packages without damage.”

The official claimed that the footage was either doctored, or it was an operation by a private orgianisation.

According to the official, there were instances where the Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy helicopters involved in relief work could not find even ground to touch down and only touched two of their three wheels to rescue and evacuate people by pulling them up. “They will never deliberately waste food items or ration goods such as rice or flour like is being shown,” the official said.

Another discrepancy the official referred to was the fact that the armed forces were no longer dropping uncooked food. “We are now dropping cooked food items because with water all around them, the flood-hit people are unable to cook themselves.”

Published in Dawn, September 1st, 2022