Disaster management: Nobody steps up for people with special needs

Mentally and physically handicapped thus far ignored during disaster management.

PESHAWAR: While millions of dollars have been allocated for disaster management and rehabilitation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the tribal areas, people with special disabilities remain dismally neglected.

Programme coordinator for the End Violence against Women and Girls (EVAW) in K-P and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Qamar Naseem, said that people with special needs were never on the agenda of those who claim to be championing human rights, particularly the government of Pakistan, the United Nations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and donor agencies.

Highlighting the problems these people face in times of natural calamities, Naseem said that steps need to be taken to ensure that these citizens are not ignored during rescue efforts and are instead given special care. More importantly, social stigmas should be avoided and the needs of the disabled should be addressed alongside the rest of the community.

Care for the disabled should include specialised shelter, access to water and sanitation, and long term objectives of education, employment and income generation.

Naseem said that an unaccompanied 20-year-old woman, who suffers from mental disabilities, lives at the internally displaced persons camp in Jalozai under the supervision of the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMA). He alleged that despite appeals to the Provincial Commission on the Status of Women, the Women Facilitation Centre and the EVAW alliance, no government department or NGO came forward to help her.

PDMA Spokesperson Adnan Khan said that because of the woman’s condition it was difficult to search for her relatives because her place of origin could not be ascertained. A search of the Jalozai camp has so far produced no results, he said.

The girl shares a tent with another woman who lives alone in the camp, but the most care PDMA has been able to provide her is food and shelter.

Khan said that the job of the disaster management authority is to provide food and other basic necessities in times of natural calamities. We asked many organisations to take responsibility for such people but no one has stepped up.

The coordinator added that this issue highlights the absence of a proper referral mechanism and poor coordination between clusters and organisations.

Idrees Kamal, the coordinator of the Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network, said that civil society organisations in K-P are planning to raise this issue to higher authorities.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2012.