Govt working to reconcile Post Disaster Needs Assessment figures

ISLAMABAD: The government in collaboration with international partners, including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, United Nations and European Union, has jointly initiated work to ascertain and reconcile the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) figures against initial official estimates ranging from $28-$32 billion.

It is yet to be seen what figure the international donors are going to work out in their reconciled figure of PDNA as it will provide a basis for obtaining pledges from multilateral creditors and seeking rescheduling of bilateral debt from the Paris Club and Non-Paris club countries in the aftermath of flash floods in different parts of the country. “The PDNA will be ready by October 15, 2022 and a joint team of experts is sharing real-time data with the Planning Commission’s Flood Center,” top official sources confided to The News in background discussions here on Thursday.

The Government of Pakistan, the UN, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the European Union have jointly initiated the preparation of a Post-Disaster Needs Assessment. The assessment is going to provide an early evaluation of the impacts of 2022 floods situation, which is still evolving.

Meanwhile, Humair Karim, Acting Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division, chaired the 2nd meeting of the Steering Committee for coordination regarding international assistance for flood relief activities in the Ministry of Economic Affairs here on Thursday. The agenda of the meeting was “Mapping of Humanitarian Assistance and Relief Efforts.”

The chair stated the United Nations is in the process of launching revised humanitarian appeal on 4th of October in which additional USD 600 million will be asked for immediate relief assistance. He stated that the UN launched the Flash Appeal on 30th August, 2022 for USD 160 million grant for flood relief support. Since the devastation is huge, the grant was not enough to meet the needs of affected population. He further highlighted that currently Pakistan is in the first phase of providing immediate relief to the flood-affected areas with provision of food, shelter, medical facility, mosquito nets, etc.

The Ministry of Health apprised the donors about the spread of water-borne diseases, malnourishment in children and urgent need of proper medical care to pregnant women in the flood-affected areas and requested for maximum provision of medical supplies, including hygiene kit, delivery kit, antimalarial medicine, etc.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) presented a brief overview of the floods situation in the country and highlighted the method of distributing flood relief goods. The chair apprised the participants that by 15th of October, the Damage Needs Assistance Report would be ready which will provide a complete picture of the overall damage.