Pakistan floods – six months on

Six months ago Pakistan was hit by devastating monsoon floods. This was – and remains – a disaster shocking in its scale and impact.  The world risks forgetting that 20 million people were affected – more than the Boxing Day Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and the Pakistan and Haiti earthquakes combined.  Almost two thousand people died.  The floods left an appalling trail of destruction from North to South, ruining livelihoods, property and infrastructure.

I got a small idea of the disaster in trips to affected areas in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa last summer.   I visited a camp for flood affectees near Nowshera with Baroness Warsi and Andrew Mitchell – the UK Development Secretary. In a tent supplied by UKAid a mother of four children, who had lost everything, bravely told us "I am happy”.  Her resilience and the resilience of so many other Pakistanis hit by the disaster was humbling.
 
Six months on, many flood affectees still desperately need help. The media focus may have moved on.  But the disaster has not. Parts of southern Pakistan are still under several feet of water – now stagnating.  Millions of people – more than the entire population of some countries – still remain affected. Both the UN and the Government of Pakistan acknowledge that the situation is still acute. The UN estimates that almost $0.9 billion –  less than half the target set in its September 2010 appeal – is still needed to help the huge numbers of people trying to rebuild their lives after the floods.  UNICEF and other aid agencies are warning of malnutrition at a level not seen since the famines of Ethiopia and Darfur.

Overwhelmingly, these are poor people, vulnerable people. They need help. We cannot afford to lose focus.  I remain proud of the UK’s response, both by the government and by a generous public.   The UK Government has now committed £134 million (over Rs 18 billion) – by itself about 10% of the UN’s total appeal to the world community. The UK public donated a further £68 million (Rs 9.4 billion) through the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal run by UK charities.  Aid from the UK’s Department for International Development has focused not only on the immediate humanitarian needs of ordinary Pakistanis – safe drinking water, food, shelter and sanitation – but also on longer-term recovery across the flood affected areas: repairing schools,  distributing seeds, replacing bridges and helping famers rebuild their livelihoods.
 
The tremendous Pakistani and international effort to help the flood-affected population absolutely must be sustained over the next six months and beyond.  The UK Government’s flood response team will continue its work in Pakistan in 2011. It is supporting the recovery of agriculture and rural livelihoods, particularly in Punjab and Sindh Provinces.  We are also aiming to help some 200,000 children get back into the classroom (10,000 schools were partially or totally destroyed in the floods).  UKAid still has £20 million (Rs 2.7bn) of aid to be allocated and announced in the coming months.
 
The scale of the need also lays a heavy responsibility on Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments to maintain progress on the difficult economic reforms that are so essential for Pakistan’s long term stability and security.  Pakistan has begun to think hard about its economic challenges.  This is a debate that needs to take place but also one that needs to reach some hard decisions quickly. It is for Pakistan’s politicians to decide what should be done. But it is clear that only through substantial economic reform can there be the sustained economic growth, job creation and expansion of government services that are so badly needed by the poor and vulnerable in Pakistan.  People like those I met in Sindh and Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa whose lives have been devastated by last summer’s flood, who still need help to get back on their feet, and who still face an uncertain future.

"Pakistan Floods: Click here to find out how UKAid is helping millions of survivors return home and rebuild their lives"