Lamenting the sluggish response of donors to the floods in Sindh and Balochistan, Oxfam said on Tuesday that only $1.30 per person, as opposed to $3.20 in 2010, had been committed by the international bodies in the first 10 days of the UN appeal.
Warning that the situation of millions of people may worsen, Oxfam asked the government and the international donor community to utilise their resources and rapidly increase their funding to prevent the disaster from deteriorating further.
According to the latest figures, more than 8.8 million people in Sindh and 14,000 people in Balochistan have been affected by the 2011 monsoon rains. “The human impact of this disaster in terms of the number of people affected is more than the combined impact of the Haiti earthquake and the Pakistan earthquake of 2005 as reported losses are being estimated at $215 million, and that number is likely to increase as some areas are inaccessible, and the impact of the floods cannot be assessed,” Oxfam said in press release.
“This is a cruel repeat of the last year. Again funding is too little and far too slow. Donors must recognise the gravity of the situation. Millions of innocent people, the majority of which are women and children, are in desperate need of the basics: food, water, sanitation, healthcare and shelter. If assistance does not come quickly, a second emergency of rising malnutrition and rising water-borne diseases risks making a public health disaster a reality. There is no time to waste. We must all act now,” said Neva Khan, the country director of Oxfam in Pakistan.
Approximately 6.8 million acres of land have been damaged by the floods – an area nearly as large as Haiti.
According to the UN, the floods have wiped out 73 percent of standing crops, 36 percent of livestock and 67 percent of food stocks in the 13 worst-affected districts of Sindh. In a province where already 72 percent of the population is acutely short of food, the loss of crops means hundreds of thousands of more people do not have enough to eat.
“Approximately 97 percent of the UN’s $357 million appeal remains unfunded. So far only $11.5 million has been committed by donors. This pales in comparison with the amounts committed to other crises. Within the first 10 days of the 2005 earthquake, which left some 3.5 million people homeless, the international community had committed $247 million and pledged $45 million. This works out to $70 committed per person, during that time period,” the press release said.
Likewise, some $742 million was committed to Haiti 10 days after the quake and $920 million pledged. Some 1.5 million were directly affected by the quake, which works out at $495 per person in the first 10 days.
“People are living in desperate conditions. Each passing day puts more people at risk of deadly diseases, forces more people into hunger and destroys more futures. We are in a battle against time. Donors, the UN, aid agencies and the government, need to step up their response immediately. People need help now,” Neva Khan said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) thanked Japan for confirming crucial contribution of US$4 million. Coming at a time when additional funding is urgently required, the donation will allow WFP to scale up its ongoing response in Sindh, where the devastating effects of the flooding have left an estimated 2.75 million people in need of immediate food assistance.
“The US$4 million donation will be used to provide 600,000 people with a one-month family food ration”, the WFP said.
