WHO staff member surveys the flooding of the Johi–Chinni road
11 July 2012 – The district of Dadu borders Balochistan and the mountainous range of Khirthar. Due to heavy rains in Khuzdar and Kalat, water levels of the Nai Gaj river rose and the river breached its banks. Water has reached the Kachho area of Johi. Ten villages have been surrounded and flooding occurred in four villages in Drigh Bala in the evening of 10 July.
The main areas affected have been Wahi Pandhi, Haji Khan, Drigh Bala and Chinni, where roads have been flooded cutting off the access of these populations to Johi.
Repair work is being conducted on the Johi-Wahi road.
Areas affected
Flood water has hit the union council areas of Drigh Bala (population 18 981), Tando Rahim Khan (population 23 007), Chinni (population 22 948) and Sawro (18 675). The worst affected area is Drigh Bala, in which 10 villages are surrounded by water. The population of these 10 villages and the four villages in which water entered is about 10 000. According to local people crops and seeds have been destroyed.
Health facilities affected
There are seven health facilities in the four union councils of Drigh Bala, Tando Rahim Khan, Chinni and Sawro. Three are run by the nongovernmental organization People's Primary Health Care Initiative (PPHI) and four by the Department of Health (DoH), which MERLIN runs. All health facilities are functional but MERLIN and PPHI doctors can not reach the health facilities due to breaches in main roads. Therefore, paramedic staff are running the health facilities, except the basic health unit in Wahi Pandhi and the rural health centre in Drigh Bala, which are being run by medical officers.
The rural health centre and basic health unit (Haji Khan) are in Drigh Bala. There is a basic health unit in Tando Rahim Khan and government dispensary (Khuda Baksh Chakar Khan) and civil dispensary in Chinni. In Sawro the basic health unit was not accessible to the MERLIN team due to breaches in the Johi–Chinni road.
There has been no displacement of the population or reports of injuries, causalities or disease outbreaks from the area.
Actions
The executive district officer and district support manager have been briefed on the situation and the executive district officer has nominated the tehsil health officer of Johi to monitor the situation. The district support manager has directed health facility staff to immediately report any health problems. Information has been shared between WHO and MERLIN. MERLIN has requested the possible placement of doctors as soon as possible.
Needs
Immediate needs include:
• 4 x 4 vehicles for the health department in case of disease outbreaks.
• medicines for the Department of Health to cope with the unusual situation.
 People crossing the Johi–Wahi road at the point of flooding Surveying the damage on the Johi–Haji Khan road Team from WHO and Sujag Sansar Organization Water of the Nae Gaj river is flowing slowly Work in progress on the Johi–Waho road Work in progress to repair the road |