Family ate leaves to survive

Source: Dawn

Date: Aug 10, 2010

BHAKKAR, Aug 10: Finally, it was left to Mother Nature to save the lives of Shamsher Sial and his three children. They remained perched on a tree for two days after flash floods hit their village last week.

Once they survived the deluge, their main challenge was to find food for themselves and their 50odd close relatives who had been marooned at the Bhakkar bund, some 30km from this town.

No relief goods had reached them by the evening of Aug 9, a week after the torrents had forced them out of their homes.

“We spent the whole of last Wednesday and Thursday on a charpoy we had placed on the branches of a tree,” Shamsher told Dawn, “Some of my relatives did the same to save their lives. During the two days, we ate leaves to survive. It was only after the water had receded that we were able to climb down and proceed to the embankment.” Two of Shamsher’s cows beat him to the finish line.The cows somehow managed to float through to the embankment from his village Noor Ki Basti, literally meaning the abode of light.

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