KARACHI, Sept 8 A picture of acute mismanagement, the tented village set up in Musharraf Colony in Keamari Town urgently requires government intervention at a higher level as the number of internally displaced persons is steadily growing there while little efforts are in place to meet their needs, it has been learnt.

On Tuesday, a section of the IDPs protested against the lack of basic amenities, unfair distribution of relief goods and delay in the provision of government compensation for their losses.

The tented village with one of the largest concentrations of flood survivors in the city lacks a system to restrict the number of IDPs whose population is increasing day by day.

According to a rough estimate, the number of IDPs at the camp increased from 4,000 to over 9,400 in just 10 days.

When a Dawn team visited the site on Tuesday, many people were found sitting in the open without any shelter.

“I came here three days ago and have been living in the open since. I am widow with three children and an old mother. I am having acute headache right now for being constantly exposed to the sun. Please do something for us,” a woman in her thirties pleaded.

Currently, only three officials of the revenue department are deputed by the provincial government to look after the needs of the over 9,000 people. About 900 tents are erected at the site.

“It has been over a month since the establishment of the tented village. But, the government has not developed any strategy for an equitable distribution of relief goods. People push and pull one another to get relief goods. Many times, philanthropists seeing this uncivilised behaviour simply leave without parting with any thing,” said Huzoor Bakhsh, who arrived at the camp with seven members of his family from Jaffarabad, Balochistan.

He also complained that there were no separate supply of drinking water, which was being consumed from the same tank in which people bathed.

The paramedics providing health services at the camp expressed serious reservations about the quality of food and said that no checks existed at the camp to ensure that healthy food was being supplied.

Volunteers of a non-government organisation involved in relief efforts at the camp said the government had done no basic assessment of the number and needs of IDPs, which was one of the major reasons for chaos at the camp.

Besides, the continued arrival of new IDPs was failing relief efforts, they claimed.

“No security is available here. There have been incidents of theft of our relief goods. Some people even took away the tents we had given to them,” they said.

No constant milk supply for children

The IDPs demanded that the government must provide assistance to meet the nutritional needs of small children. There was no constant supply of milk, affecting the health of small children, they said.

“Many times they sleep hungry. At times, we have to sell the stuff provided in relief goods to buy milk for the young ones,” laments Bashir Ahmed, who hails from Larkana. Milk should be distributed in adequate quantity so that pregnant women and young mothers could also benefit, he added.

According to data compiled by lady health visitors, the total number of children at the camp is about 673. Of them, 400 children are under the age of two years. The number of pregnant women and women of children bearing age is 190 and 450, respectively.The staff claimed that the children were being vaccinated and the pregnant women were referred to hospitals. Forty-two women had delivered at health facilities while there had also been births at the camp.

Lack of cooperation among healthcare groups

The IDPs suffer from a host of ailments. However, a bigger problem seems to be non-cooperation among the various health groups — Sindh police, the Karachi city government and a team of midwives and dispensers representing the Govt Qatar Hospital in Orangi — operating at the camps independently.

The Qatar hospital team was unaware of the presence of a skin specialist at the Sindh police camp while doctors at the Sindh police camp said that they were working independently without any coordination from other health groups. And, the same appeared to be true of the city government's staff.

Skin infections, vomiting and diarrhoea were the main problems among the IDPs, according to health professionals.

Experts said they had no authority to check or express doubts about the quality of food, which, they said, could be causing vomiting and diarrhoea.

'Donate to meet IDPs' needs'

Speaking to Dawn, Additional District Officer (revenue) Javed Sibghatullah Mehar, who is managing seven camps in Keamari Town, said that though officials concerned had been informed about the increasing number of IDPs, it was difficult to prevent new IDPs from settling at the camp since it had no boundary wall.

Separate arrangements had been made for the supply of drinking water and people had been told about it. Still, they consumed tank water meant for washrooms, he said.

“We are managing the camp to the best of our abilities. There is no problem with food supplies. People are eating Karnal basmati here, which I don't have at my home,” he said.

Regarding health issues, he said health support was available round the clock at a nearby town hospital. Besides, women were being educated about basic hygiene and health.

Giving the reason for unfair distribution, he said philanthropists often distributed relief goods on their own without consulting the government staff.

“This causes chaos. I request people to donate according to the IDPs' needs. We do not need food because we have adequate supplies of that. But we do want specific stuff for growing children. So, please talk to government officials concerned before giving donations in kind,” he requested.