Flood aid

Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman was not off the mark when she reminded the world and the government of Pakistan that there are still over 20 million people affected by the recent floods that are dependent on humanitarian aid. This is a huge number by any count, greater than the entire population of many countries. It has been nearly six months since climate-change induced catastrophic floods hit dozens of districts in Pakistan, most of them in Sindh. Normally after six months the phase of humanitarian aid should be over and the phase of rehabilitation and restoration should have commenced. But the country has been slow in response to both phases, mainly due to a lack of adequate aid from international agencies and donors. Appeals by the United Nations have received only 30 per cent of the over $800 million that the international community had pledged on various occasions in the past six months after the floods.

Multilateral assistance is of paramount importance when a country has tens of millions of people displaced and living in vulnerable conditions. This vulnerability is the result of climate events that mostly developed and industrialized countries have caused over the decades. A resilient recovery is needed – damage and loss worth over $30 billion is not a minor challenge. Reconstruction needs are at least $16 billion and then even more investment is required to support Pakistan’s adaptation to climate change. According to UN estimates, another 10 million people – in addition to those already struggling – will find themselves below the poverty line as a result of the floods. Imagine the miseries of the displaced people in the harsh winter that is taking its toll, as nearly 15 million people will need emergency food assistance in the winter months till March 2023.

Four million people in Sindh and over 1.5 million people in Balochistan are facing severe food insecurity with over five million having no access to clean drinking water. The most vulnerable are the children and women whose basic survival has been at stake after the floods. Malnutrition is a primary cause of this vulnerability and unless national and international organizations and philanthropists take this matter much more seriously, a great tragedy is in the offing. If children go unvaccinated for long, more diseases and infections are likely to hit them. Education and healthcare facilities need rehabilitation too. With tens of thousands of basic health units and schools wiped out, the situation looks grim. So far Pakistan has received only four billion dollars in financial foreign assistance to support flood relief activities in the country and surprisingly nearly 90 per cent of it is in the shape of loans and just 10 per cent as grants. This must change. The world must help, and it must realize that it will need to step up a lot more now that the Global South is reaping the consequences of the mindless exploitation of natural resources the developed world has indulged in over years.