‘Sluggish response to flood disaster worrying’

Representatives of leading national and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), donor organisations, civil society groups and the media have expressed serious concern over the sluggish response of the humanitarian community to the devastating disaster in Sindh caused by heavy rains and floods this year.
The issue was raised at a roundtable conference arranged by the Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) on Friday where participants said that thousands of people in the affected areas are still suffering from lack of services and their basic needs are not being met because of the sluggish response by the humanitarian community.  They pointed out the global financial crisis, the government’s late appeal for international aid and limited media coverage as the main reasons for the dull response.
“The funding to this disaster has been extremely sluggish. The aid efforts of the UN agencies, the Pakistani civil Society, the government of Pakistan and humanitarian agencies are under threat as funds are depleting fast and news contributions are not coming in at a rapid pace,” said OGB Country Director Neva Khan.
“To date, the UN appeal of $357 million is still only 37 percent funded. Pakistan faces several problems and challenges, i.e. rule of law, problems with corruption, political tensions with neighbours and other countries,” she added.
SPO Chief Executive Naseer Memen said that the delayed appeal by the government, economic slowdown in the Euro zone and the US, lack of efficiency and transparency on part of the government and lukewarm coverage by the international media are the key reasons for the poor response by the humanitarian aid community.
“The government underestimated the scale of disaster and the appeal for international aid came too late when millions were already shelter-less. Now, the sluggish response by humanitarian ads community is causing severe stress on relief activities,” he added.
“We should join hands to support the affected people and salute their spirit, their courage, their resilience.”
NDMA Director Idrees Masud said Pakistan is facing the problem of climate change and Sindh has received unexpected rainfall. “One of the reasons for the international sluggish response was the government’s massive response. The government has spent more than it did last year,” he explained.
Talking about late appeal, he said the government first gathered data and then asked for the donations.
“As Pakistan is prone to face more floods in the future, we don’t want to waste resources. We want permanent shelters, not temporary ones,” he added.
The SPO is one of the leading NGOs working in 40 districts across the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir on the thematic areas of democratic governance, social justice, peace and social harmony, emergency and disaster response. The organisation has successfully created a group of “social change agents” through the formation of civil society networks throughout the country where the organisation is geographically and thematically present. These change agents lead the whole process of capacity building and awareness among the grassroots tiers up to the top by advocacy at policy level on social issues.