Govt looks to world for help over flood devastation

ISLAMABAD: While declaring the massive damage caused by the ongoing heavy rains and flash floods to public life and property in the country a climate-induced humanitarian disaster, the cash-strapped federal government on Thursday urged the international community to come forward to help it for the relief of calamity victims.

“Though mobilising resources to cope with heavy monsoon flooding, we [government] are painfully aware that there is a distressing gap between resources and rescue operations and the number of people in need of urgent shelter. With 33 million people affected by the disaster, we will need international humanitarian assistance to provide them with a modicum of relief and food security for now,” the minister told a presser here.

The Federal Minister for Climate Change, Sherry Rehman, said the National Disaster Management Authority was conducting a needs assessment with the federal government working to send out a UN flash appeal for humanitarian response to the calamity. “Our federal and provincial governments are running out of resources as it is not within the capacity of any province or the State to deal with the disaster of such epic proportions alone.

 We also need communication, infrastructural assistance and air support once the weather settles,” she said. Sherry said the country suffered from the worst humanitarian disaster of the decade, which caused a large-scale loss of lives, property and livelihoods.

She said around 30 million people had been directly affected by flash floods as the country received an unprecedented rainfall during the ongoing monsoon. “Overall, we [Pakistan] received 241 per cent more rains than average this month with a 496 percentage increase in Balochistan, 784pc in Sindh, 172pc in Gilgit-Baltistan, 56pc in Punjab and 33pc in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” she said, putting the nationwide death toll from the calamity at over 900.

The minister said the need for shelter and relief was dire as conveyed by the provinces but the situation was still evolving and every day the needs assessments were changing as the rains didn’t stop causing floods. She said the homeless people’s numbers were growing with Sindh asking for one million tents and Balochistan 100,000.

“This is a huge number. All tent manufacturers have been mobilised and external donors asked for tents. Right now, we are apprising international donors of the number of multiple risks we face. We are hopeful that our international development partners and friends will step in to assist in this unprecedented humanitarian crisis. It is beyond the capacity of any federal or provincial government to rehabilitate and manage rescue, relief and shelter, as our resources are limited,” she said.

Sherry said Pakistan’s top priority was to manage the ‘climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions. “Political competition should not at this point be anyone’s priority. This is the time to be focused on saving lives. After the relief efforts are complete we must focus on rebuilding with climate resilience in mind,” she said.

The minister said the government was making all-out efforts to rescue people and provide them with relief assistance, while heavy machinery was being used to drain floodwaters. She said the prime minister had opened a bank account to receive donations for flood relief operations.

The minister for climate change complained that the recurrent and frequent spells of rains had made it hard to carry out relief operations, especially helicopter sorties. She warned that Pakistan was under an unprecedented monsoon spell with the data suggesting the possibility of re-emergence of another wet cycle next month.

MONSOON DEATHS*

Male Female Child Total

AJK 24 13 0 37

Balochistan 110 55 69 234

GB 2 4 3 9

ICT 1 0 0 1

KP 50 33 92 175

Punjab 84 41 39 164

Sindh 115 45 133 293

TOTAL 386 191 336 913

*13 June - to date