Flood victims forced to construct unsafe houses

Stagnant waters have affected the ability of some areas to be considered safe for rebuilding

ISLAMABAD: Devastation caused by the floods that have damaged or destroyed more than 1.7 million homes across the country has forced the stricken population to start rebuilding with whatever is available to them – and they are ending up building unsafe houses.

“People are helpless and are in dire need of technical guidance; the challenge is to persuade people to build back better and safer,” said Siamak Moghaddam, Country Director UN-HABITAT.

According to UN-HABITAT sand deposits and stagnant waters have severely affected some areas’ ability to be considered safe for rebuilding houses or to be used for agricultural initiatives.

The agency also stresses the need to get experts on ground to technically assist the people to ‘build back safer’. According to the UN-HABITAT team, assessments across Mardan, Charsadda, Sukkur, Larkana and Dadu, have revealed that a lack of funds and assistance has led people to rebuild unsafe houses.

The agency has urged all humanitarian communities to make a combined effort to help facilitate the reconstruction process of helpless people who have lost almost everything.  The government of Pakistan has given Rs100,000 to the flood-affected people to rebuild.“The government has taken a great step but they need to make sure that the people are actually rebuilding. People have to augment this with their own resources and find solutions that can be accommodated within this,” said Moghaddam.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a UN- HABITAT official said that this has been seen in the past, with the earthquake of 2005 and in Balochistan, where people received cash for reconstruction of their homes but they did not do so. This might happen once again; it is not about the lack of funds, people will receive the cash, but it’s about rebuilding of homes which may not happen, he said.

Moghaddam said that the Pakistan Development Forum is a platform for provinces and the federal government to present the situation to the international community.

“Provincial governments do have plans, but some plans need to be further refined. We are happy to hear from presentations that Pakistan’s main reliance will be on itself” said Moghanddam.

Published in the Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2010.