Pakistan

Pakistan still in state of emergency after floods: UN

Envoy says only 39% of essential early recovery projects are funded.

Afp January 28, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations (UN) on Thursday said that Pakistan is still in emergency mode six months after floods ravaged the country, and that $1 billion was still needed to help the 20 million affected people.

The UN launched a $2 billion flood relief appeal in September but still requires nearly half that amount, in particular to help farmers return to work after waters submurged fields and devastated harvests.

“The emergency in Pakistan is not over and a lot of work still needs to be done,” Rauf Engin Soysal, the UN’s special envoy for assistance to Pakistan, told a press conference in Islamabad.

“The humanitarian community is in close cooperation with the federal, provincial and district authorities in continuing its tireless efforts to help people in need in Pakistan,” he added.

So far 56.3 per cent, or $1.1 billion, of the appeal fund has been met, but only 39 per cent of essential early recovery projects are funded, Soysal said.

“More than half of the flood response plan is now covered, but we are hoping to raise the remaining one billion dollars which is urgently needed,” the envoy added.

Catastrophic monsoon rains that swept through the country in July and August affected 20 million people, destroyed 1.7 million homes and damaged 5.4 million acres of arable land.

The UN said that about seven million people are still living on monthly food rations. Reviving agriculture, providing shelter and education facilities and finding employment opportunities for flood victims continue to present difficult challenges, it said.

“We are helping farmers in recovering their land by providing them with seeds, fertilisers and tools to accelerate the rehabilitation process,” Soysal said, adding that food aid will continue to be provided while there is a need.

UN also announced yesterday (Thursday) that the government of Pakistan would like to see a time table for relief activities and operations being implemented. The UN agencies need to continue and successfully complete the early recovery phase by the end of July this year. However, lack of funding remains a great concern of UN as it might halt certain operations or even lead to slashing of essential items from the food basket.

A WFP representative said that the “situation in Sindh and Balochistan is critical and needs to be addressed”. Chris Lom from IOM said, “Its not only UN but national and international NGOs that need money. If additional funding does not come in then half a million will suffer.”

Kilian Kleinschmidt from UNHCR said, “Although operations were carried out at on a massive scale but we did not meet international standards anywhere. Attention needs to be diverted towards Balochistan.” AFP with additional reporting by Maha Mussadaq

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (1)

Vidyut | 13 years ago | Reply Pakistan has been in a state of emergency for decades now. No amount of aid can help a nation determined to use it for something else. With a nuclear arsenal of over 100 warheads and the enemy committed to a 'no-first-use' policy, Pakistan's escalation of its nuclear weapons programme while surviving on aid is a joke. Talk of weapons of mass destruction destroying the country they are supposed to protect without even being fired! Till you guys can get your military to let go of regional obsessions, people will continue to hesitate to aid, while the little aid you get will be spent on unnecessary things. At the moment, even if its about weapons, your gunships need ammo, servicing. What is the point of building a nuclear arsenal that is already well above anything that is going to be needed? There are fancy lodges being proposed for the Parliament while a tenth of the nation is sleeping on the streets hungry. No rebuilding is being undertaken by the government. At the peak of the crisis, the government appealed for monetary aid, but not blankets, food, books, building materials.... reports were coming out of donated blankets not being distributed among the flood victims and a hundred other evil ways the aid was being mis-used or not provided. To date, I haven't heard a single statement from any politician that thanks the world for coming to your aid - donating, helping and propping up Pakistan is the duty of the world, which the world gets prompted by reports of "not enough" for more than a decade now. A humble message from the president acknowledging that governments, organizations and individuals from all over the world helped the people in their plight and that there is great need and a request that they dig deeper into their pockets and stand by Pakistan in their time of trouble could have worked miracles. America provided massive help. It got hate in return. If anything anti-American sentiment runs higher. India could have provided massive help, if its initial effort hadn't been thrown back into its face. Its a relatively prosperous country with emotional ties to your people. Transportation isn't such a big headache over land. It has experience with floods and rebuilding and the terrain and challenges are similar. More importantly, it has emergency supplies that could have been asked for and a strong community aid culture. Supplies like food, clothing, blankets, tents, etc could have made a huge difference. But it was more important for the government to not accept Indian aid (that kills the National Paranoia that India is evil) than to save lives with whatever aid is offered by accepting it gracefully enough to invite more. It is totally destroying Pakistan's credibility - no one believes that Pakistan has any intentions of resources for the desperate. Everyone imagines that very little of the aid provided will reach the needy and that large parts of it are at risk for adding to the misery of others through corruption or terrorist support. India is wary of saying anything other than its canned lines or token money, because there simply is no way of saying anything that will be perceived in the spirit it is offered. There needs to be serious transformation of attitudes for help to come, for help to be used well, and for people to feel helped.

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