What about next year?

It will likely take the country years to recover from this year’s monsoon floods. There is simply no quick way to fix the aftermath of a disaster that claimed over 1000 lives and affected over 6.9 million people overall. And yet, much the same could have been said about the 2022 floods, and many of those impacted by that tragedy are still struggling to recover and help from the state for them to do so has not matched expectations. Forget getting post-disaster planning and recovery right; it often seems as though the state simply does not have a plan. It is in this context that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) has come up with a response strategy to complement the Pakistan government’s early recovery efforts following this year’s floods. The strategy is outlined in a report titled ‘Support Plan for Early Relief and Recovery, 2025 Monsoon Floods, Pakistan’. The response will focus on both humanitarian and early recovery activities in 14 prioritised districts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the Gilgit-Baltistan administrative territory. According to the report, many of the most affected districts had pre-existing levels of vulnerability. Now, with livelihoods and income-generating assets destroyed, humanitarian partners plan to bridge the needs gap until government compensation and reconstruction efforts are in place.

The effort was launched in October and is planned to last until April, 2026. Prioritised needs include health, nutrition intervention, food security and livelihoods, protection, shelter and education. Multi-purpose cash assistance totalling $7.9 million will also be distributed to 1.2 million people. While it is encouraging to see international humanitarian organisations stepping up for flood survivors in Pakistan, especially in the backdrop of rich countries refusing to give or cutting climate aid to the Global South, it is also necessary to have plans in place that enable the country to build back better. The fact that simply covering immediate assistance can be a challenge that requires external assistance does not bode well for more long-term efforts. How will the farms, businesses, homes and infrastructure that were destroyed be rebuilt? How will entire communities be put back together? Most importantly, in an era of climate change and recurring natural disasters, communities cannot be brought back up only to be torn back down once the next monsoon arrives. As per the report, nearly half of Pakistan’s 96.4 million urban residents live in informal settlements and these areas are often built on riverbanks, drainage basins and dry riverbeds, leaving them vulnerable to flooding.

The report emphasises the need for long-term assistance and urges both the government and humanitarian partners to prioritise long-term interventions for the most vulnerable communities and households. However, long-term resilience has thus far eluded the nation’s policymakers. And the task will not get any easier because resilience requires revenue. In addition to the government’s own revenue collection problems and IMF-austerity pressures, the global climate for climate funds for the developing world is far from encouraging. Expectations for the Loss and Damage Fund Pakistan played a pivotal role in establishing back at COP 27 in 2022 has, thus far, been a disappointment. COP30 is not expected to change this. And, to top it all off, even when some funds are approved, they remain difficult to access due to red tape. In this environment, one worries how long it will be before these same districts are, once again, in need of immediate emergency assistance.