Damage, loss and needs assessment: Flood-related figures to be finalised by 24th: planning minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said that the government up to October 24, 2022, will finalise the flood-related figures of damage need assessment and on the basis of the findings of the government report, the government would hold an international donor conference in November to seek support from the world for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the flood-hit areas, saying no country was able to tackle such a huge disaster on its own.

While addressing the opening ceremony of Annual Rural Women Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction Conference, here on Thursday, the minister said that in November, Pakistan is planning to hold an international donor conference to get resources to expedite the reconstruction work in flood-hit areas of the country as it is beyond Pakistan’s resources.

He also said that Pakistan bore the brunt of the careless lifestyle of the Western countries due to which Pakistan has been among the countries who would be impacted severely by climate change. He also applauded the role of civil society for playing their role in the rehabilitation process. He assured the audience that gender perspective would be included in the rehabilitation plan.

The minister said woman’s role in the rehabilitation process in flood-hit areas would be vital as the rehabilitation and reconstruction process would not be possible without their support.

“The incumbent government was bent upon providing equal opportunities to womenfolk to actively engage in the development process of the country,” Iqbal said. He said planning and development was not based only on building roads and infrastructures but one of the most important aspect was planning to include women in the country’s development process.

Keeping in view this importance, he said the Planning Ministry has established a gender unit in which all development projects would be planned according to gender perspective so that the projects should not be approved without ensuring the interests of women.

He said Pakistan was facing a huge disaster due to climate change and the women and children are the most vulnerable in such conditions. Even when the rehabilitation starts, women are not included in such a process, he added.

Losses caused by floods: Sherry reveals World Bank’s estimate

The minister said one-third of Pakistan had been affected, and 33 million people were directly affected due to the disaster caused by floods and torrential rains. Similarly, over 2.1 million houses were damaged and 1,717 people lost their lives. He said without any doubt, this is the biggest calamity in any country in the recent era.

He said the federal government and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) were fully supporting the provincial governments and the provincial disaster management authorities to tackle the flood damages.

He said the government had allocated an additional Rs70 billion to support the beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in the flood-hit areas. Furthermore, the federal government was also contributing Rs9 billion to provide wheat seeds for sowing in flood-hit areas.

The government, he said would also provide maximum support to the provinces to ensure reducing malnutrition among the children and mothers in such areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Federal Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada said that although we belonged to a society where women were respected, however, due to growing intolerance and various other factors he would be presenting the domestic violence bill in the National Assembly.

Reiterating European Union Delegation to Pakistan’s commitment to support women’s rights and empowerment, Sven Ruesch, Director Programmes, European Union Delegation to Pakistan, said “eighty-five percent 85 percent of all new EU programmes will have a strong focus on contributing to improve gender-equality.”

“Overall women’s participation in decision making process at home and community level is low. If we want this to change, your voices need to heard loud and clear to claim your rights but also get a fair share of the wealth.” Mentioning a report, he said that violence against women is high at places where poverty is high.

Dr Shahida Rehmani, MNA and Secretary Women Parliamentary Caucus (WPC) and Dr Zarina Salamat, chairperson, PODA highlighted the need to recognise the role of rural women while acknowledging their diverse and impactful roles and contributions in the society. Dr Zarina said that the policymakers should devise practical solutions to focus on the education needs of the children of the flood-hit areas.

Various speakers and participants of the conference highlighted the need to take special care of children’s health and educational needs, as these issues tend to be ignored when such emergencies occur in a country. It should be relevant to mention here that Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai is in Pakistan to focus world attention on the flood-hit areas and is currently visiting Sindh, urging the world to focus on the education needs of the children of the areas devastated by the current unprecedented flood. Malala was the one who attended PODA-Pakistan’s 2nd annual rural women conference back in 2009 when she was almost 11years old.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022