Perilous
Times
World Vision: Natural disasters puts 5 million people at
risk again this year
By PPI
Published: August 3, 2011
One year on from the worst ever floods to hit Pakistan, World
Vision calls for relief efforts to be ramped up for at least
another year just to get families back to their pre-flood level of
living.
Last year’s floods, which affected more than 20 million people,
were the fourth major emergency to hit the country in almost as
many years: from Kashmir earthquake in 2005 to widespread flooding
across South Asia in 2007 and a refugee exodus, after the outbreak
of conflict, in 2009.
Head of World Vision Pakistan, Alexander Davey, said: “Pakistan
sits on frontline of disasters, and communities already living in
extreme poverty are simply not being given time to recover from
the last blow they were dealt. World Vision aid workers even have
children asking them when the next flooding will start – as last
year’s emergency aid gave people more than they have ever had
before, and much more than the lives they are returning to now.”
Flooding washed away crops, destroyed 5.4 million acres of land
and, as food prices rise, child malnutrition increased to about 25
per cent in the worst-hit areas like Sindh.
World Vision is responding to Sindh’s high malnutrition rates
through community-based nutrition sessions and is setting up more
than 20 mobile clinics – often the only form of healthcare on
offer. In the past year the aid agency reached an estimated 1.5
million people with food distributions, clean drinking water,
hygiene kits, blankets, shelter and by establishing women, infant
friendly spaces across three provinces.
Yet, as the monsoon rains and melting mountain snow cause river
levels to rise, up to five million people could be at risk once
again. Families are being asked to prepare for evacuation in case
river banks, damaged by last year’s flood, do not hold.
Alexander said: “Pakistan’s cycle of disasters create a
generational impact that is hard to break – with schools damaged
or teachers lost, children drop out of education; what’s left of
belongings often needs to be sold off; families become
increasingly sick as they have less to eat but must work more. How
can you afford to start rebuilding your home, when there’s no
money to put food in your child’s mouth? One year on, Pakistan’s
most vulnerable are barely even starting out on the long road to
recovery.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 3rd, 2011.