Pakistan's Flood Relief

By Aisha Toor

Due to the implications of the recent Pakistan floods I will be tracking various elements of the humanitarian response in the upcoming weeks. Please feel free to comment or make suggestions for future posts!

A senior UN official calls it “the biggest emergency on the planet today,” nevertheless, the global aid response to the Pakistani floods has been much less generous than any other recent natural disasters.  Triggered by monsoon rains, the floods have ripped through the country, destroying hundreds of thousands of homes and an estimated 1.7 million acres of farmland.  According to UN officials an estimated 14 million people, roughly 8 percent of the population has been displaced.

UN spokesman, Maurizio Giuliano, said that based on the number of people affected, the disaster is worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. Areas in the north have been completely isolated, including Kalam, a town in the upper reaches of the Swat valley that has been cut off for nearly two weeks. Dozens of buildings and hotels have been destroyed in an area once known as a popular tourist destination. 

The flooding has also affected Punjab, the food basket of Pakistan, ruining crops, livestock and infrastructure. According to officials at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Livestock, the cost of damages so far is estimated at 5 billion U. S. dollars. According to Anne Paterson, the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, “the long-term reconstruction cost is going to be very substantial.” 

An estimated 1,200 people have died  and survivors face the threat of waterborne disease, which could kill thousands if health workers cannot deliver enough clean drinking water and treat victims in crowded relief camps. Children are particularly at risk as rates of diarrheal diseases continue to increase at an alarming rate, and mosquito-borne malaria is also on the rise. 

The United States was among the first responders to Pakistan’s call for assistance and has provided 90 million dollars in relief efforts thus far. Additionally, there are currently 18 U.S. military and civilian aircraft in Pakistan and U.S. helicopters have evacuated 5,912 people and delivered 717,713 pounds of relief supplies . Kristalina Georgieva, European Union Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid, also promised to increase assistance to Pakistan bringing its total up to 70 million Euros. The Saudi government has pledged more than 100 million dollars and other countries are also stepping up and increasing their original pledge amounts. For an updated spreadsheet on total aid thus far please visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/aug/09/pakistan-flood-aid. 

While international support has been rising, so have tensions among the international community and disgruntled Pakistanis who are frustrated with the apparent lack of government action. President Asif Ali Zardari has been criticized for preferring to stay in the United Kingdom for over a week after the floods devastated Pakistan.  Interestingly enough, in March 2006, the Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was created in order to address the weaknesses that became evident during the 2005 earthquake. The NDMA created a National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP) to upgrade the country’s ability to cope with all conceivable disasters. However, the overall consensus amongst Pakistani government officials is that there was an apparent lack of early warning signals to the floods.

The upcoming months will be challenging, as growing desperation has led to an increase in social and ethnic tensions. Two women were killed in a stampede in a bid to grab free sacks of flour outside a philanthropist’s house.  Moreover, a critical aspect of the security situation lies in the region’s most severely affected communities. The floods and heavy rains caused the most damage to the poorest areas of the country where extremists notoriously thrive.

The situation in the north is particularly critical. Poverty stricken and now swamped with floodwaters the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP) -- now officially Khyber Pakhthoonkhwa (KP) – is home to both the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban. After an offensive by the Pakistani army only a year ago in Swat Valley, many people returned home after the militants were forced out.

The flood victims are dependent on the ability of the Pakistani government and its allies to bring in much needed relief. As the citizens are feeling more and more hopeless it is imperative that swift action is taken to prevent the influx of disease and the loss of more innocent lives.

More information on relief efforts can be found at www.state.gov/pakistanflooding. Community members interested in giving immediate assistance can text the word "SWAT" to 50555 to contribute $10 to UNHCR's life-saving flood relief efforts on the ground.

Flickr photo by DVIDSHUB used under a Creative Commons license.