UAE: Pakistani expats’ families stranded in school 80km away from home due to floods

Pakistani expatriates in the UAE are worried about their families and relatives who are stranded on roads or have taken shelter in far-flung areas due to devastating floods in the South Asian country.

Heavy rains and floods have wreaked havoc in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan provinces of the country in the last couple of weeks. More than 1,100 people have died while one-third of the country’s 220 million population has been directly affected as a result of floods.

Pakistani nationals living and working in the UAE told Khaleej Times that they are unable to fall asleep because their families are stranded and have taken shelter 80 kilometres away from their homes.

Mashooq Ali, a UAE resident who hails from a village located in the district Khairpur, Sindh, the family remains stranded over the past few days.

“Our entire area is completely flooded and all the people in the area have relocated to far-flung areas. My wife and three daughters have relocated to another village along with my four brothers and their eight kids. Many of our relatives’ homes are also flooded and they’re forced to live in tents on a road,” Ali told Khaleej Times in an interview on Tuesday.

Ali’s house has badly damaged as the main compound wall, kitchen and bathrooms collapsed during floods.

He said people are still waiting for help as no government or non-government organization (NGO) has reached the area to support the victims in the form of monetary or food.

Another UAE resident Ali Ghulam’s family also lives in a flood-hit village in Sindh’s Gambat area.

Ghulam is extremely worried about his family and has not been able to get proper sleep for the past few days.

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