Pakistan: Is Enormous Suffering Being Overlooked?
08/09/2010
An area the size of England has been devasted by flood waters, yet the international community has been slow to assist
It is monsoon season in Pakistan: rain is not unusual this time of year. But starting on Friday of last week, I watched with literal horror as unprecedented levels of extremely heavy, sustained rain poured down in the mountainous areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK) and other areas - triggering the worst floods ever recorded in Pakistan.
Rivers burst their banks and flooded crops, homes, and roads with frightening speed, in many areas entirely communities. Roads and bridges have been cut off - and many villages are unreachable, particularly in Swat and Charsadda Districts.
This is the third large-scale emergency I have responded to in Pakistan in the past 5 years. In 2005, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake rocked this province (then known as North West Frontier Province), levelling entire communities and cities, causing 75,000 deaths and massive destruction. In 2009, active conflict between government forces and insurgent groups forced millions to flee the same province, seeking refuge in neighbouring Mardan District.
Both of those crises were widely covered by the media: this disaster seems barely to have registered, which is hard to fathom considering the scale of the disaster. Whereas the earthquake triggered a rapid, worldwide response and an outpouring of media attention and aid, the current crisis made a few headlines earlier this week but has since dropped largely of the radar. The people are desperate.
An area the size of England has been devastated. By today's count, 1,600 have died, more than 263,000 homes have been destroyed and at least 4 million are affected by a disaster that, in terms of hardship and damage, threatens to overshadow the impact and hardship of the 2005 earthquake. In terms of infrastructure, roads and bridges, 50 years of investment and progress has been wiped out overnight. For countless communities, livelihood opportunities - including vital access to basic services (hospitals, schools) and markets - will be severely hampered for months if not years to come.
Concern has field offices and programs in the two worst-affected provinces: KPK and Punjab. I am in Islamabad, coordinating the emergency response with a team of 50-plus staff and local partners. Local relationships, built up since we began working in Pakistan 2001, are allowing us to be among the first responders as we are well known and trusted in our areas of operation.
I am in hourly contact with personnel in Swat and Charsadda Districts and other hard-hit areas. I can tell you that this emergency is major - and it requires large-scale humanitarian intervention to prevent suffering, if not loss of life, on an enormous scale. And that intervention will hinge on significant media attention to keep the public at large interested and motivated.
We have done assessments in three of the worst-hit areas, starting with Charsadda district in KPK. Rivers have burst out of their banks and completely destroying everything around, including homes, standing crops of sugar cane, maize, and vegetables. Between 85 percent and 90 percent of houses were damaged by the floods.
In KPK alone death toll stands at 800, with more than 800 injured and 155,293 houses damaged. In Charsadda 34,657 houses have been damaged. Made of mud, these structures simply quickly dissolved and collapsed, forcing inhabitants to flee without any of their possessions.
Many, especially children, are still missing, because of the incredible speed of the flooding. Survivors were rescued by the army in helicopters and boats and in some cases found refuge in still-intact government buildings, such as schools on higher ground. But they arrived there with literally nothing. Women and children in particular are very vulnerable.
Now that the water has receded in some of the areas the access has improved, Concern has moved in with support, with our staff working around the clock.
We have supplies for 1,200 families - including plastic sheets for shelter, hygiene kits, blankets, mosquito nets, jerry cans and debris removal kits.
Now that the flood waters have begun to recede in some places, we are providing water in small tanks on small pickup trucks, as big tankers cannot go in yet as there has been huge mud built up in standing waters.
But there are still areas that are inaccessible, especially in Swat, where communities prior to the floods were suffering from chronic internal conflict and were already vulnerable. More than 50 percent of this district is not yet accessible. It is feared that hundreds of villages have been razed to the ground and that the area's topography has been permanently altered. And even when the water begins to recede, standing water can lead to problems like water borne diseases, scabies and malaria.
With a special eye on the needs of women and children, Concern has begun deploying mobile medical clinics that offer gender-specific services. Accommodating the needs of women - also when it comes to latrine and other hygienic facilities - is crucial as they are barred from non-female facilities by local cultural customs. Women face indignity and even physical danger as they must meet their physical needs in public places or must travel long distances to fetch water.
It is hard to exaggerate the dangers of a potentially devastating impact on the lives of millions of Pakistanis. The world must respond quickly and substantially.
Mubashir Ahmed is assistant country director for Concern Worldwide's programs in Pakistan, and he also coordinates Concern's response to emergencies.
All the world knows that it (flood in Pakistan-2010) is an enormous disaster for Pakistan… But the Government of Pakistan (the responsible of this disaster) is showing it’s (his) back to it’s “RESPONSIBILITIES”.
— Madman on 2010-08-19
Flood Situation of Jaffarabad & Naseerabad Balochistan
During the start of monsoon flavor in Balochistan has brought heavy rain causing flash flooding in different areas of Balochistan especially District Jaffarabad & District Naseerabad are also the most affected areas. According to reliable sources the incident claimed 06 lives and severe damages to the infrastructures and livelihoods of more than One Million peoples.
As per details, the Main Seem Canal of Dera Allahyar Affected and Destructed Dera Allahyar city, Rojhan jamali, Gandakha, Usta mohammad and seem canals of 10 Union Councils of Tehsil Sohbatpur were breached due to rising of water level, ultimately resulting in inundation of numerous nearby villages. The flood moved from different channels of Path Feeder Canal and fall down in Seem Canals. After this point the flood water lost its intensity and got spread over the plain areas. It is feared that if the torrential rains, continue with the same intensity, it might lead to further flooding in Jaffarabad & Naseerabad districts
SEPRS Emergency Response
After the reports started coming in last evening about the growing threats of floods and possible threat to lives and livelihood of people, SEPRS office kept eye on the situation and early morning teams were mobilized for Jaffarabad & Naseerabad Districts. Furthermore, SEPRS with civil society network BSDN (Balochistan Social Development Network) which included more than 100 indigenous (Local NGOs & CBOs) have been asked to remain vigilant and start helping people within their communities and collecting information and data of the affected people. Networks have also been taking part in the response and relief activities along with local authorities and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA), were available. So far, SEPRS has collected the following data with the support of their partner organizations and local actors.
Human losses: more than 50 peoples in Jaffarabad injured 200 and in Naseerabad 02 human losses their lives and more than 220 injured. Besides, human losses, major infrastructure damages, affecting livelihood of One million of people have been reported. A brief of preliminary damage assessment is provided below:
— Imran baloch on 2010-08-22
This is enough, please wake up !!!!
It is the worst disaster ever taken place in Pakistan. We all should do our bit. It is the holy month of ramadan and we can do as much as we can for our brothers and sisters dying in this disastrous flood.
— amna akber on 2010-08-25
Money is by no means short. Public has donated huge amount for this noble cause. A good portion of this money should be spent immediately for emergency food and medical relief of flood victims.
— Tahir Jamil on 2010-09-11
Greetiong God
To, Global Health
Jesus christ’s legion of peace ministry doing the for work serving humanity and development work for humanity this time Pakistani flood peoples faces the suffreing time becoues flood is not good for the people life and flood people have not food and not colthes not home every poor flood people this time we want give them food and colthes and othersome things please help other flood peoples give us grant for suffing floods people help thme and cantcat us love the people of God .God will love you
thanks all the best
http://www.jclop.org
pastor Robeecka maria
— Robeecka maria on 2011-09-08
davcni svetovalec <a >investiranje</a>
— nakedbeachb on 2012-02-02