26% Pakistanis blame govt for flood devastation

A quarter of Pakistani’s hold the government responsible for the devastation caused by the floods.

ISLAMABAD: A quarter of Pakistani’s (26 percent) hold the government responsible for the devastation caused by the floods, while 73 percent consider it to be a natural calamity.

This was quoted in a Gilani Research Foundation survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan.

A national representative sample of men and woman were asked the following question:

In your opinion who is responsible for the devastation caused by the flood?

Seventy three percent blamed nobody and considered it to be a natural disaster; however 26 percent believed that the massive loss was due to the governments negligence, while one percent gave no response.

A detailed analysis of the data shows that a greater percentage of urban population (35 percent) hold the government responsible for the destruction caused by the flood as compared to their rural counterparts (22 percent).

A comparison among provinces shows that respondents in Sindh (34 percent) are dissatisfied with the government’s efforts to handle the situation as compared to other provinces.

The survey was carried out among a sample of 2,579 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country, during August 2010. Error margin is estimated to be approximately + 2-3 per cent at 95% confidence level.