“There is water nearly everywhere,” Peter Zangl, the director general of the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), told a news conference in Islamabad after a five-day visit to Pakistan.
Unprecedented monsoon rains triggered catastrophic flooding across the country in July and August. Parts of Sindh remain under water, where people are still camping on roadsides after the floods washed away their homes and swallowed up rice and wheat fields.
“The only perspective of getting rid of the water is evaporation. Depending on depth and climate conditions, this will take between two and six months," Zangl told reporters.
The displaced "need everything to survive and to live with minimum respectability and this situation will continue for several months," he said.
UN and Western officials have described the floods as the biggest natural disaster to face the international aid community and Zangl said the magnitude of the crisis was "tremendous".
“This explains that quite often we are confronted with a situation where aid is not being provided to everyone who is in need. “This is something which is unfortunate. This is something on which we are working from the humanitarian community ... but it's totally impossible to make sure that everyone gets aid under the circumstances,” he said.
ECHO has provided around $210 million, as part of a control contribution from EU member states of 415 million euros. Under US pressure, the Pakistani cabinet this week agreed to increase income tax in a bid to raise $470 million for the victims of the floods.
The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have estimated damages at $9.7 billion, almost double the amount caused by the 2005 earthquake.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2010.
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