UN assessment of flood-hit areas starts in Pakistan

[senorpepr]

ISLAMABAD: The different agencies of the United Nations on Tuesday launched the Flood Rehabilitation Needs Assessment for Balochistan and Sindh.

The UN agencies, including UNDP, WHO, Unicef, FAO, WFP and the office of the Resident Coordinator, have sponsored the assessment, which gives calculations and estimates of the medium and long-term relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance needed in the worst flood-affected regions.

Thousands of poor people are still suffering from the aftermath of the disaster as food insecurity and health problems persist in the districts of Badin, Tharparkar, Thatta, Naseerabad, Bolan, Jaffarabad, Lasbela and Jhal Magsi.

It is estimated that over one million people have been affected as their houses have either been destroyed or damaged and livestock has perished. Moreover, the floods have ravished cropland and this has exacerbated the food crisis in the area.

The Needs Assessment by the UN calls for investment in buildings, water, sanitation, livestock, health, education, roads and livelihoods worth Rs 7.157 million (USD 129,889) in order to help the people of region in an effective and long-term fashion.

The Needs Assessment Mission recommended that supplementary food aid be given to the 125,500 vulnerable families for a period of four months, as the Rabi crop has been lost. Physical infrastructure such a s road and schools have also been destroyed and need to be repaired or restored.

It was also suggested that technical assistance to the federal and provincial governments to allow for better early warning and preparedness mechanisms is required. Some of the flood-affected area had earlier been ravished by the drought and it was felt that a comprehensive strategy for the harnessing and utilisation of floodwater should be developed.

UN Resident Coordinator Onder Yucer said the UNDP had helped the government prepare a comprehensive national disaster management plan, which now needs to be put to implementation in order to avoid the repetition of such misery and suffering that is still being experienced by the impoverished people of these flood-affected districts.