Situation in flood-hit areas to grow worse in winter unless aid is provided: Report

Pakistan Humanitarian Forum says $27m needed for immediate disaster risk reduction programmes.

MULTAN: Pakistan Humanitarian forum expressed their fears that an under resourced relief effort would leave several million people with little or no aid, and a situation about to grow worse with the winter season.

The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF), a network of the 41 largest international charities currently operating in the country, said more than five million people had been affected by the floods “about half of them children” they said.

Around 700,000 people remain displaced, and at least six million acres of ravaged land, PHF said in a new report. PHF urged donors to provide timely and adequate support for an expansion of the relief and recovery effort by rapidly and substantially increasing funds for the UN flood appeal.

Donors should place disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation principles at the heart of their strategies for both relief and development, in line with the Global Platform on Risk Reduction, including allocating at least 10 per cent of humanitarian and recovery spending to DRR, it said.

PHF urged the government to ensure that flood-affected families receive appropriate support to return home in a process that is voluntary, safe, informed and dignified, or to resettle freely in accordance with their rights and international guidelines on internally displaced persons.

The statement said there was a need for at least $27m to be immediately invested in disaster risk reduction programmes, followed by long term investment of at least one per cent of national development funding, sustained by increased tax revenues.