The floods that struck Punjab in late August and September have left behind more than broken homes and waterlogged fields. They dismantled livelihoods, erased crops, and shook the foundations of entire communities.
In Jhang, a district once known for its green pastures and fertile fields, the transformation is stark: where livestock grazed and rice paddies stretched in neat rows, there is now only stagnant water and mud.
For Qasim Raza Khan Sial, a farmer and community volunteer from Meerne Wala village, Garh Maharaja, where the shrine of the shrine of the 17th-century mystic and poet Sultan Bahu is located, the damage is not abstract. Agriculture has long been the primary source of income in his area, but the twin floods that hit in quick succession destroyed crops and left families with no means to recover.
Rice and cotton fields were wiped away, while wheat farmers -- already struggling with falling prices -- faced further ruin. Only sugarcane survived the deluge, standing stubbornly in patches where the water eventually receded. The government is compensating Rs20,000 per acre to farmers to rehabilitate their lands, which is a welcome initiative but fertilizer alone costs Rs15,000.
For families with no harvest, no reserves, and no certainty of when they will plant again, a lot more is needed.
Ironically, centuries ago, Sultan bahu had written,
A desolate wilderness,
A rapidly crumbling bank on the river of time.
It will collapse tomorrow, if not today,
Lodged on the edge of such a shore.
How can a traveller sleep in peace?
For where sand and water meet,
No embankment can hold, O Bahu.
The ferocity of the floods stunned residents. “Twice the flood has hit us,” Qasim recalled. “First on the 28th of last month, and then again on the 1st of September. The second came too fast. Water stayed for five whole days, rising twelve feet high, all the way from Chiniot to Mohammad Wala district.”
What defenses the farmers had managed to build were no match for the onslaught. Soil barricades, raised in desperation to keep the water out, simply dissolved into mud. Once they gave way, torrents swept through villages with terrifying speed, collapsing homes and submerging fields in a matter of hours. Families fled to higher ground, watching helplessly as everything they had built was carried away.
In the aftermath, relief work became a fragile but vital lifeline. Local networks of volunteers, supported by Rizq, mobilized quickly to bring supplies into the worst-hit areas. With support from Coca-Cola, Rizq is distributing more than 3,000 ration hampers, in all flood hit regions, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, filled with flour, lentils, sugar, and oil -- each enough to sustain a family of six for a month.
For those whose kitchens were lost, community dastarkhwan offered freshly cooked meals in a safe and communal setting. Coca-Cola volunteers joined the community in Meerne Wala, after a five-hour drive mostly through mud tracks, to share a meal and restore the confidence of the community.
After a disaster, sometimes a sympathetic listening ear goes a long way in restoring confidence of those who have lost everything. Bedding, blankets, hygiene kits, and drinking water brought by Coke team are restoring a measure of comfort and dignity to families who had lost everything.
For Qasim, who helped coordinate and witness the distribution, these interventions were essential. He said, “This support shows people they are not forgotten. A bag of food, a bottle of water -- it restores dignity and hope.” His words reflected the quiet relief visible on the faces of those leaving distribution points, shoulders heavy with ration bags but spirits lifted by the knowledge that survival was possible.
Recovery, however, will not be swift. Fields in some areas remain waterlogged and may take weeks to dry. The regrowth cycle for rice and cotton spans months, leaving farmers without income until the next season. Rising input costs add another layer of anxiety, as families wonder how they will afford seeds and fertilizer once their land is ready again. Yet amid despair, resilience persists. Volunteers continue to mobilize, communities band together, and farmers like Qasim find strength in solidarity.
As the sun sets over Meeren Wala, families head home carrying sacks of flour and bottles of water, their faces lined with exhaustion but softened by relief. The floodwaters may have taken much, but they have not erased the will to endure—or the hope that, with time and effort, life will begin again.
