World Food Program to begin survey in flood-hit Sindh

WFP discusses ways for swift relief and assistance to flood victims with Sindh Chief Secretary.

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: A technical team of the World Food Program (WFP) will begin a survey of rain and flood-hit areas of Sindh province from Friday to assess the immediate food needs of millions of the displaced families.

In this regard, a six-member delegation led by Deputy Executive Director WFP Ramiro Lopes da Silva called on Sindh Chief Secretary Raja Muhammad Abbas at his office here Thursday and discussed the ways for swift relief and assistance to the survivors in the flood and rain-hit districts of the province.

Chief secretary assured all out assistance to the WFP team regarding their visit to affected districts. He said about eight million people have been affected by devastating rains in Sindh and the government has already taken steps for the rescue and relief. He said that immediate cash assistance of Rs20,000 would be given to each affected family through 'Pakistan Cards' being issued by National Database Registration Authority (NADRA), while during next two months each family would be paid Rs5,000.

He thanked the services of the WFP and other donor agencies for their help in relief and rehabilitation of the flood and rain survivors in Sindh.

Army to the rescue of flood victims

Pakistan Army rescued at least 65,000 persons and distributed 1,000 tons of rations among flood victims in Sindh through helicopters and by road, said Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a press release on Thursday.

According to ISPR,  the Army established a field hospital and nine medical camps at different areas including Sanghar, Mir Pur Khas, Omer Kot and Badin. Army doctors have claimed to have treated more than 85,000 patients.

Last year, the Army helped the flood victims by collecting aid worth Rs1069 which was spent in various relief programs including reconstruction of educational institutes, homes and health facilities, said ISPR.

IOM provides shelter and food to flood-stricken Sindh

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) diverted 7,000 emergency shelter and non-food relief item (NFI) kits from a contingency stockpile in Punjab to meet the huge demand for emergency shelter in Pakistan's flood-stricken Sindh province, said a statement released by IOM.

The kits, each of which contains two plastic tarpaulins, ropes, two blankets, a kitchen set, a bucket and a jerry can, will complement 2,000 kits still stockpiled in Sindh and will be distributed by IOM and shelter cluster partner agencies in districts prioritized by the Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).

IOM has already distributed around 17,000 shelter kits to flood victims in Sindh.

“We have local NGO partners willing and able to distribute these kits to flood victims who desperately need our help. Distributing these contingency stocks without guaranteed donor funding to replace them is a high risk strategy, but it is a risk that we have to take,” said IOM Hyderabad Head of Office Arshad Rashid.

On September 18, IOM appealed to international donors for US$14.6 million to procure and distribute emergency shelter and non-food relief items to help over 550,000 vulnerable flood victims over the next three months.

The money will go towards providing shelter and non-food relief items, meeting the needs of displaced people in temporary settlements and relief camps, tracking displacement, building local capacity and coordinating the work of the Emergency Shelter Cluster.

Last week, IOM, working closely with a local non-government organisation, which provided a boat, delivered shelter and NFI kits to families stranded on mud banks in a sea of flood water in Badin district's Tando Bago sub-district.

The community, located about a mile from the town of Judho, had been cut off from the town for nearly a month. Their submerged mud houses had been completely destroyed and their only surviving possessions were wooden charpoy string beds and a few quilts and rice sacks that they had floated to safety and used to build makeshift shelters.

A village elder told IOM that the only aid they had received had been a delivery of rice by navy personnel in a zodiac inflatable.

Many people were sick from drinking dirty water or were suffering from malaria and all the crops in the area, including cotton, rice, tomatoes, onions and chili had been destroyed by the floods, he added.

“Unless the water recedes by next month, which seems very unlikely, they also won't be able to plant their wheat crop – which means they will lose another food staple,” said IOM Operations Officer Sher Sultan, who led the distribution.

Based on government and independent assessments, the UN believes that nearly 5.5 million people have been affected by the floods in Sindh. As many as 1.8 million have been displaced and are living in government relief camps, on roadsides or on higher ground near their submerged homes.