In pictures: The ignored flood survivors in Punjab

Heavy rains and flash floods have killed 191 people in Pakistan’s most populous and politically important Punjab province so far. According to official figures, 50 of them are minors.

About 4,000 people have been injured, including 572 children, while a total of 673,970 people have been affected by the floods.

One of the worst-hit areas in the province is Dera Ghazi Khan, where more than 24,000 houses have been partially or completely damaged, forcing people to take shelter with neighbors or in tents.

Mangrotha in DG Khan is one of the worst affected areas.

On August 14, at 1:30 pm, water rushed down the hills into Mangrotha, destroying 110 houses and leaving many families homeless.

Most of the residents are daily wage earners, earning between Rs 600 and Rs 700 per day. Reconstruction of a one-room house will cost up to Rs 500,000. Money they don’t have.

Families in Mangrota are telling. Geo.tv That no one has visited them from the government and they have not received any government assistance.

Tired of waiting for government help, the survivors have one by one raised money to rebuild their homes.

Amira Mai, a resident of Mangarotha, has now pitched a tent where her house used to be.

He has seven children and three widows living in the tent. In the flood, he lost his house, his belongings, his goats and the wheat he had kept for the whole year to feed his family.

Another worst affected area of ​​Punjab is a village in Taunsa.

On the morning of July 26, there was a flood in Taunsa. The water rose up to 16 feet killing 10 people, mostly children.

Chief Minister Punjab Pervaiz Elahi and former Prime Minister Imran Khan recently visited the village.

Villagers say the chief minister distributed checks worth Rs 800,000 but only to families who had lost a family member. The remaining survivors say they have received nothing from the government.

Several families said Geo.tv That the former prime minister bought 20 trucks with him. But after Khan’s departure, the trucks also did without distributing anything.

Khadim, who lives in Taunsa, lost his wife and two children – aged 4 years and 8 months.

She is yet to find the body of her 4-year-old child.

“All I want to say to the government is please give us a roof over our heads. I have five small children, where will I go in the winter?” he said.

Khadim’s five surviving children complain of mosquitoes and flies at night.

The flood victims in Taunsa, who are now homeless along with 13 members of their family, said Geo.tv That he has heard Imran Khan’s demand for new elections.

He said that elections will not rebuild our homes.

The floods have caused heavy damage to infrastructure in DG Khan while some areas are still under five feet of water.