Summary At least eight thousand women and children face food shortage and are forced to relocate
QUETTA (Dunya News) – The locals have started relocating as the agricultural land gets barren and water unavailable amid threat of famine in Chaghi, Dunya News reported.
According to details, at least eight thousand women and children face food shortage and are forced to relocate after the famine threat in Balochistan’s Chaghi district.
Last time a famine-like situation occurred in Chaghi was in the year 1997 when the famine lasted for 9 years. As per an unofficial report, 6 out of 11 union councils of the district namely Pideg, Chilghari, Saddar, Jhalli, Chaghi and 50 villages of Amri are facing famine.
There, at least eight thousand women and children face food shortage whereas hundreds have started relocating. Out of those affected, as many as 2 thousand families have relocated to different areas.
Reportedly, 40% agricultural land in Chaghi is barren while 91% livestock is being affected. 42% of population is forced to drink from polluted ponds because of lack of alternatives to clean drinking water.
The report also mentions the average rain in the past three years that has decreased from 170 millimetres to 7.5%. The underground water level has reduced by 3.5 feet because of lack of rain.
Deputy Commissioner Chaghi has written a correspondence to Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to alert of situation in this regard. The authority has become active following Dunya News’ report and Director General (DG) PDMA Zahid Saleem has directed to dispatch aid to the affected area immediately.
