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‘It’s devastating’: Shepparton’s Pakistani community watches ‘biblical’ floods from afar
Shepparton’s Pakistani community has been watching as friends and family members back home fight “biblical” floods, with half the country underwater and 33 million people displaced.
There are roughly 100 Pakistani families in Shepparton who still have ties to their native country, with everyone knowing somebody affected by the floods.
Muhammad Abdullah visited his mother, driving along submerged Karachi streets, six weeks ago.
He saw the signs of flooding then, despite Karachi being well away from the worst-hit areas.
He said the “unprecedented” rain and snow melt had not stopped since.
Dr Abdullah, the Pakistani Association of the Goulburn Valley president, said that roads he had driven on in Pakistan less than two months ago were completely inundated.
Some 1500 people, including 450 children, had died in the floods and more than 500,000 homes destroyed, while crops — which were about to be harvested — had been swept away.
“It’s devastating, it’s all gone,” he said.
However, Dr Abdullah said he was concerned about water-borne diseases.
“You’ll have cholera, typhoid, dengue, malaria, hepatitis because everything has been overrun and they don’t have the health system to treat all of it,” he said.
“It’s going to take us years, maybe a decade to rebuild because it’s affected industry, agriculture, displacement and the rebuilding of homes and schools.
“We’ve been daily in touch with lots of Pakistani organisations that are helping, we’ve been sending money individually to organisations, to relatives to pass it on.”
But he said it did not feel like enough.
The Pakistani Association of the Goulburn Valley was planning to hold a fundraiser in coming weeks to help garner more support.
They donated thousands of dollars to bushfire relief in 2019 and 2020, but will now be calling for aid for themselves.
Association treasurer Asif Khan said it was “devastating” watching the damage from afar.
Dr Khan’s parents and all siblings bar one in Pakistan.
While they were 300km from the worst-affected areas, no one had escaped the devastation.
“We never have come across this situation before,’’ he said.
“I don’t know if it’s just because of the global warming or the climate changing some scientists says we have motion, but it’s awful.’’
Association general secretary Fayyaz Akhtar said he struggled to wrap his head around the scope of the disaster.
“No matter how big the help you have is, communication is cut off, everything’s cut off.”