NGO helps flood victims

A year after the worst floods in the history of Pakistan killed over two thousand people and displaced millions, hundreds of thousands of adults and children are steadily recovering from the disaster and rebuilding their lives with the help of better access to clean water, schools and recreational spaces provided by Plan International, an NGO.
A report issued by Plan International on Tuesday stated, “As heavy monsoon rains last year left a fifth of the country under water and displaced an eighth of its 170-million population, Plan escalated its local operations to provide emergency relief for a quarter of a million people, and will reach out to provide recovery and rehabilitation support to over 1 million people in the worst of the flood affected areas by September 2011.” Plan has been working in the worst flood affected parts in the south and east of the country. In the province of Sindh efforts have been concentrated in districts Ghotki, Khairpur, and Thatta. In the province of Punjab, Plan’s projects are concentrated in the districts of Layyah, Muzaffargarh, and Rajanpur.
Plan Pakistan’s Country Director, Haider Yaqub said “The floods hit the most vulnerable segments of the population, such as children and women, the hardest. Children are affected by natural disasters in complex and far-reaching ways, and since they are the future, their well-being is the key to the communities’ long-term recovery.”
To help children process the tragedy and recover, Plan and its local partners have set up 301 child-friendly spaces where children can play, share and talk freely. Some 20,300 children have been provided with support delivered through structured and supervised recreational and learning activities in a safe space.
“Plan will continue to work with local partners to help reopen 390 schools, roll out cash-for-23 work schemes, improve rural sanitation and to undertake other long-term rehabilitation and disaster preparedness initiatives,” the report said.
In order to prevent avoid diseases and malnutrition, the provision of clean water and sanitation are crucial to the agenda of any humanitarian crisis response. Water contamination and sanitation are estimated to be responsible for 60 per cent of child mortality cases in Pakistan as 45 per cent of the rural community defecate in the open.
In order to address the sanitation problem more widely, Plan has initiated a community-led ‘total sanitation approach’ which will reach over 1 million people in rural areas across 30 flood-affected districts.