Pakistani villagers carry their belongings through flood water in Badin district in September 2011. Photo: AFP

As part of an ongoing partnership, Newsline and Teabreak.pk are combining resources to bring new forms of discourse and analysis to news-hungry audiences. On October 19, we launched the first session in a series of discussions titled “The Chat Room.”

Session 1 of The Chat Room was all about the floods of 2011 that have devastated Sindh. The scale of this flood has been bigger than the 2010 floods in terms of damage in Sindh. Unfortunately, despite everything that happened a year ago, Pakistan seems to have reacted slowly and inadequately. In the first part of Session 1, a live online discussion was held that talked about the government response and medical relief efforts, as well as issues such as rehabilitation through interest-free loans and using technology to provide aid.

In part two, we talked with Dr Awab Alvi and Karim Jindani, who were both involved in relief operations in Sindh, about the condition on the ground and how it compared to 2010. The activists discussed fundraising efforts — some groups say that as much as 80% of their donations have come from Pakistan — that have been much more challenging this year, the use of pre-fabricated homes, the use of social media in ensuring transparency with the use of donated funds and the need to invest in infrastructure projects that will protect these communities in Sindh from being washed away again during the next seasonal downpour.

Click play below to listen to the podcast (22 minutes)