Swept Away

LIZ HAYES: From out of nowhere they came, flood victims crammed onto a wooden boat, forced to find their own way out of this inland sea. One crowded boat, in just one corner of a country that is, literally, drowning. This is Pakistan right now. And for its Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, it is a desperate sight.

YUSUF RAZA GILANI: In fact, this is one of the biggest-ever disasters in the world's history, and this is one of the unprecedented disasters and it has not only affected one province, it has affected the whole country.

LIZ HAYES: Your entire country is at risk?

YUSUF RAZA GILANI: Yes.

LIZ HAYES: Nearly one third of Pakistan is under water. Earlier this month, torrential monsoon rains sent a wall of water down the mountains, surging south, spreading out and swallowing up Pakistan's farming heartland. It's not until you get into the air that you understand the scale of this disaster. There is water as far as the eye can see, and down there, there are hundreds of thousands of people who have lost just about everything, who need food and water, but most of all - just to get the hell out of there. Those who have escaped take refuge wherever they can - in schools, in tents by the road, and if they're lucky, in a refugee camp. But wherever they are, the expression on their faces is the same despair and bewilderment, as if they're trying to comprehend what has happened. This is how they now have to live?

MAJOR RIAZ SHAID: Yes, and, ah...which they're not used to.

LIZ HAYES: Yes. Major Riaz Shaid has the overwhelming task of taking care of these people. This is your biggest camp?

MAJOR RIAZ SHAID: Yeah.

LIZ HAYES: How many people here?

MAJOR RIAZ SHAID: Ah 2,600, 2,600.

LIZ HAYES: Have you ever seen anything like this before?

MAJOR RIAZ SHAID: No, because in my life, I have never seen this scale of calamity. We need a much bigger scale to help these people, otherwise these people will suffer a lot.

LIZ HAYES: For months if not years to come, places like this will be home to millions of stranded families. All of them dependant on handouts and the generosity of others.

BOB HANDBY: When you see houses destroyed and then you see people's beds, and, you know, the wheelchair and the shoes, it brings it home that this is where people lived, and that's what's left.

LIZ HAYES: That's just devastating - seeing somebody's wheelchair sitting there.

BOB HANDBY: I mean, there's no disaster in the world, whether it be an earthquake or a tsunami, can do any more damage than that, because its total destruction.

LIZ HAYES: Bob Handby has worked for the Australian Red Cross for 26 years. He has been to just about every major disaster zone in the world, but none come close to this one.

BOB HANDBY: I think it's fair to say I am reasonably experienced in dealing with these sorts of disasters. Yet when I set foot in the villages the first time I went out in the field, and stood on the banks of the river, the village completely destroyed, it was something that I really didn't expect. I find it incredible that after all these years of experience, I was still shocked to see what was in front of me.

LIZ HAYES: This village sits on the banks of the Kabul River. And when the floodwaters came, they were swift and brutal. Ultimately, we're talking about an inland tsunami, aren't we?

BOB HANDBY: I think so. This had the same effect on these villages as the Banda Aceh tsunami did, as far as I can see.

LIZ HAYES: Izit Khan's home has turned to mud, and most of his possessions are destroyed. The rest of his village has been all but swept away. Izit Khan, were you frightened?

IZIT KHAN: Yes, and my father, I do not think that he will be alive, because that is so sudden a situation at that time, that everything, when it passed, they collapse - everything.

LIZ HAYES: Did the water go as high as the top of those buildings?

IZIT KHAN: Yes, yes, yes.

LIZ HAYES: So many homes, fragile to begin with, are gone. Now, relief workers like Bob are here to bring back to these people, the basics.

BOB HANDBY: I'm a grandfather, and what affects me is to see young children, in particular, who really just don't understand what's happening around them and where they've come from, you know? You look at their house - if it's there, it's full of mud, where they're sleeping, they're slopping around, you know, with no shoes on. They look at you and say, "Well mister," you know, "What are what are you going to do for us," you know?

LIZ HAYES: Bob, realistically, how long will it take, do you believe, for this country to recover?

BOB HANDBY: Yes, I mean it's a question we're asking ourselves all the time, I mean, we're talking years.

LIZ HAYES: Homeless and penniless, people are grappling with disease. And the suffering is almost impossible to watch. Iman Katerin Kiswani runs mobile medical clinics for Medicine Sans Frontiers and every day is a battle in holding back the next wave in this disaster. Have you seen cholera?

IMAN KATERIN KISWANI: This area is endemic, and we know that cholera will come.

LIZ HAYES: The disease could be as bad as the initial destruction?

IMAN KATERIN KISWANI: Yes, without treatment for diseases like cholera, 50% of patients could die.

LIZ HAYES: 50 per cent?

IMAN KATERIN KISWANI: Yeah.

LIZ HAYES: So half or the people could die if they don't get this treatment? It's a big job.

IMAN KATERIN KISWANI: Yeah, it's a challenge.

LIZ HAYES: That's the understatement of the day?

IMAN KATERIN KISWANI: Yeah, it's a massive challenge.

LIZ HAYES: Dealing with this disaster is a massive challenge on all fronts. At Multan military airbase, the hub of the relief effort in the south, the heavy work is being done by only a few. Today, just two cargo helicopters are operating. And aid agencies are frustrated by a stalled international response. There is some aid getting through. We're in a Chinook with the United Arab Emirates. And for the past couple of weeks, they've been delivering food and water and general supplies to flood victims - and they're doing a great job. But you have to ask, if this is considered one of the worst natural disasters of our time, where is the rest of the world? The problem these desperate people face is that internationally, their country is on the nose. Wracked by corruption and a safe haven for terrorists, Pakistan does not easily attract sympathy or charity. Do you accept that part of the problem has been, in terms of international response, has been a negative perception of Pakistan?

YUSUF RAZA GILANI: No, certainly not.

LIZ HAYES: You don't believe that's played any role at all to the case?

YUSUF RAZA GILANI: No, I don't believe in that because they are already supporting us. But Pakistan alone as one nation cannot fight with this menace but we need the support of the whole world.

LIZ HAYES: You must have some sleepless nights?

YUSUF RAZA GILANI: Certainly, yes.

LIZ HAYES: So what do you say to those people who might want to give, but don't, because they're concerned that this is a country that supports extreme Islamic beliefs?

BOB HANDBY: Yeah, I mean I can understand why people think that way sometimes, but ah, from my point of view, you're not giving to that country or that government. You're giving it to the people that we are meeting out on the ground everyday of the week when were working.

LIZ HAYES: This crisis is still in its infancy. The water is still coming, and there are more homes and families in its way. The health and welfare of this nation is on a knife's edge. Without help, Pakistan and its people may never recover.

BOB HANDBY: I think the thing for me is that, when you come face to face with somebody who's suffering so badly it is almost impossible to turn your back, I would defy anybody to walk away and say, "Well, you know, it's sad about that, and it's not my problem. I'd defy people to be able to do that and sleep properly at night.