It is over 120°F outside, and the reason many have called this one of the most inhospitable places on Earth is plain to see. A desert climate, with freezing winters, scorching summers, and the occasional raging windstorm make for a fierce environment that some call home.
In an area where poverty is a way of life for many, it is little wonder that each year the people of Balochistan province in Pakistan wait for the monsoon season to bring some much needed relief. The rains bring drinking water, replenished crops and irrigation systems. And of course, the promise of slightly less searing temperatures.
Tragically, no one was prepared when the cyclone struck.
Water as far as the eye can see
In the wake of Cyclone Yemyin in June 2007, massive flooding devastated an area of 400 miles. Jhal Magsi district in Balochistan was one of the worst hit. Eighty percent of the district was covered in flood waters, affecting nearly all of the 140,000 people who live there.
When Merlin’s emergency response team first reached the area, everything was underwater – houses, roads, bridges, schools, mosques, clinics, and hospitals – an entire district submerged. With such large areas covered in stagnant water, coupled with the lack of clean water and shelter, the threat of disease outbreaks, including malaria, was real and imminent. Reported cases of cholera made the situation even more serious.
Merlin’s team mobilized immediately.
Floating emergency clinics
Working alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, we ensured that the most affected areas had access to health services. For the first three weeks the team used boats to provide health care to many of the villages in Jhal Magsi, treating skin infections, acute watery diarrhea, dehydration, sunstroke, as well as vaccinating children and looking after pregnant women. At the height of the emergency, our clinics treated hundreds of people every day, people like Karima
Karima
Karima lives in Panjuk, a small village in Jhal Magsi. At 39, she had suffered the loss of two children under five, as well as a miscarriage, when her husband died a few months before the floods. Pregnant, and with seven children to look after alone, she was already struggling to survive. When the cyclone hit, it completely destroyed her home, forcing her and her children to take refuge in nearby bushes.
Our mobile team made weekly visits to Panjuk, providing Karima with regular prenatal checkups and her children with complete medicals, vaccinations and nutritional supplements. Like all pregnant women who are treated by Merlin, Karima received a complete hygiene kit, a three-month supply of iron and folic acid, as well as a clean delivery and newborn kit, accompanied by health education. Thanks to our mobile teams, we can ensure that Karima and her family will not be counted amongst Yemyin’s casualties.
Lifesaving work continues
In the 12 months since the cyclone, we treated over 50,000 people in Balochistan and trained Ministry of Health staff to help them better cope with future emergencies. We completely rehabilitated two clinics in Kot Magsi and Hathiari, including stocking them with a two-month supply of medicines.
We helped highlight the issue of malnutrition in Jhal Magsi to UN and government agencies, advocating for a better nutrition intervention, which we are now implementing. We worked with volunteer health promoters and community representatives to improve health and hygiene among local populations. And we will continue until local health services are up and running again.
And we met baby Hashim
By the time Sakina arrived at Merlin’s clinic in Kot Magsi from her village of Saakhani, her three-month old baby, Hashim, was already unconscious, but still breathing. Hashim was seriously underweight and malnourished, and had a fever of 106°F. Our team worked hard to stabilise Hashim and lower his body temperature, keeping his progress closely monitored.
After several hours his temperature had returned to normal, allowing the Merlin team to refer Hashim to a hospital in a neighboring province.
Three weeks later, Sakina brought a much healthier, happier Hashim back to our clinic for a follow up visit, where the Merlin team gave him a complete health check and advised Sakina on further treatment to bring Hashim back to full health.
Sakina was enormously grateful to Merlin. “We have never had such advanced health care in our area. If Merlin wasn’t at Kot Magsi, I don’t think Hashim would have survived.”
We can’t help the 120°F heat, but we can bring a bit of relief to the people of Balochistan.
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Supporters of Merlin's flood response in Pakistan include World Vision and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) through the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.
