Plight of flood-hit people: alarm bells start to ring

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations (UN) humanitarian agencies have warned that millions of flood-affected people are facing serious life survival challenges and the agencies so far have only received $ 263.3 million only 32.1 percent of $ 816 million of the committed funds to provide critical humanitarian assistance including food, basic health and shelter-related activities.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Julien Harneis, WFP representative Chris Kaye, Chief Field Operations UNICEF Scott Whoolery, OCHA Pakistan Chief Carlos Geha and Save the Children representative Ambreen Niazi said that all the UN agencies are facing serious fund shortages and by mid-January 2023 there will be no funds available to cater the needs of the affected people.

Three months after the floods, the situation has worsened, compounded by increased economic hardship and now in the winter when many people remain exposed to the elements.

“We need increased funding to enable comprehensive, uninterrupted aid, although there has been exemplary work by the Government of Pakistan and humanitarian partners to respond to the massive disaster caused by flood waters earlier in the year, the limited funds have not allowed to meet all the needs,” the UN representatives said.

They said that additional funding is needed to help people get through the winter to restore agricultural, livestock, and livelihood activities and rebuild their homes and communities.

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“We are especially much concerned over the food and nutrition security for an increasing number of people. We don’t have enough funds to continue the support needed to continue the assistance needed for those we have reached, and we are expecting an additional 1.1m people in flood-affected areas to be in urgent need of food assistance,” the official of WFP said.

All sectors highlight significant funding gaps, despite the devastation on the ground and significant vulnerability of the affected population. The current level of aid is not enough to meet the needs, many people reached only received partial/one-off assistance, while others have not been reached at all. Moreover, with the winter season, many people remain exposed to the elements, and humanitarian needs are both increasing and being exacerbated.

As reported by the Sindh PDMA, an estimated 200,000 people remain displaced. Those who have returned, have returned to nothing including destroyed or damaged shelter and a complete lack of essential services such as health, protection, education, water, and sanitation.

Humanitarian needs persist even as the recovery and rehabilitation phase commences. The humanitarian agencies need to keep both local and global attention on those fighting for survival on a daily basis. In a world where there are multiple crises, and each crisis is important, there are few places with people struggling to survive with negligible support as they are in the flood-affected districts of Pakistan.

Julien Harneis of the UNHC said that rising inflation and low productivity growth continue to present challenges to food security and basic nutrition, while many people’s livelihoods and productive assets, including livestock, were destroyed by the floods. In addition to increasing food insecurity, for many of those who were agricultural labours, this has increased their already heavy debt burden.

Chris Kaye of WFP said that between 8.4 million and 9.1 million people may be pushed below the poverty line by the floods, with more people turning to harmful coping mechanisms in order to survive, including child labour, child marriage, and trafficking. The risk of sexual exploitation and abuse remains high.

Not all areas are recovering at the same rate as water remains standing in many areas, damage remains widespread, disease outbreaks continue in pockets. Public health is a continuing concern. Water and vector-borne diseases remain prevalent even as health services as well as access to water and sanitation remain disrupted following the monsoon disaster.

Shelter damages and destruction are affecting over two million households and remains an impediment to return and recovery. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands are still in need of an emergency solution and winterization support.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are intensifying. Some 14.6 million people are estimated to need food assistance from December 2022 through March 2023. Of this amount, the UN and partners have been targeting 4.0 million experiencing critical food shortages. So far we have only managed to reach 3.4 million of this amount. In the absence of adequate support, we expect a further 1.1 million people will be struggling to find enough to eat.

Save the Children representative said that some seven million children require nutrition services. Rapid screenings of flood-affected communities and the severity of cases reported at treatment centers further indicate high levels of severe acute malnutrition across the flood-affected population.

Schools remain inaccessible for more than two million children, with nearly 34,296 schools in Pakistan damaged or destroyed by the floods. This increases children’s vulnerability to exploitation and abuse and may potentially cost them their futures. Some 135,000 children have been supported to return to education, including through the establishment of over 750 temporary learning centres and the dewatering, desludging (cleaning) and disinfection of those schools that were only partially destroyed.

Carlos Geha said that protection concerns and physical and psychological risks remain high, especially for women, children and marginalized groups, including refugees, with women, girls and transgender persons, and persons with disabilities at heightened risk of sexual exploitation and abuse. Women and girls, persons with disabilities, and older persons are disproportionately impacted. Only one percent of those reporting gender-based violence have been able to access services.

The floods intensified pre-existing protection risks including child marriage, discrimination and created new concerns. Moreover, exposure to flood-related hazards, sexual exploitation and abuse, loss of civil documentation and safe equitable access to humanitarian assistance, essential services and livelihoods opportunities.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022