Due to lack of coordination between the government and the international donor agencies, several rehabilitation projects in the flood-hit areas of Sindh have failed to take off and be of any relief to the masses.
This was observed during a meeting of Sindh government officials and humanitarian organisations convened on Friday to discuss how to implement early-recovery projects in the affected areas.
At the consultative meeting, organised by Sindh Community Foundation (SCF) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), all the humanitarian organisations involved in relief work in the flood-affected areas were invited to share their inputs of what they had done in which areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Jamshoro Additional Deputy Commissioner Suhail Adeeb Bachani pointed out that hardly a few organisations had shared their work plans while the status of ongoing work is slow and duplication in the efforts is visible. “In some areas, more than four humanitarian organisations are implementing similar projects and as a result, deserving families have been left out,” he said.
The Jamshoro district has been prone to disasters like droughts, water shortage and riverine floods. The people have experienced mass displacement on several occasions but after the floods in 2010, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in collaborations with partners and government had launched different rehabilitation schemes.
The participants were of the view that the process of rehabilitation from the government’s side in the area was quite slow while the response from the humanitarian organisations was also not satisfactory; hence there is a need to bridge the gap to avoid repetition.
UNDP early recovery working group member Jameel Ahmed Memon said all NGOs in close coordination with government bodies should design a comprehensive plan in their respective areas. “Because lack of coordination within the organisations and the government bodies has deprived the deserving families,” he added.
In the Jamshoro district, floods had badly-affected the three tehsils of Kotri, Manjhand and Sehwan.
Describing the forum’s efforts, SCF Executive Director Javed Soz said around 1,000 women have received support in promoting their livelihoods through the projects implemented by the SCF. “We have implemented 40 community infrastructural schemes, including rehabilitated water supply, brick roads and culverts within the riverine forest communities,” he said.
He added that the government should develop effective early warning mechanism to cope with future disasters, as there are predictions for frequent monsoon floods.
A disaster management expert, Abdul Razzaq Qureshi, shared the studies of researchers warning of frequent disasters until 2022, which will hit Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and India.
Claiming Pakistan, especially the Sindh province to be on top in disaster vulnerability, he urged the government bodies to develop village-level disaster mechanism. “The rehabilitation plan should be of long term basis so that the risk of more losses is reduced,” Qureshi said.
In the meeting, the SCF claimed to have developed “Disaster Risk Management Centre” to share the data with district governments. The centre will conduct researches on various dimensions of disaster management, policy advocacy with the government and initiate trainings of working groups and the community for their capacity building.
According to the Sindh Revenue Department, 10 union councils out of the 14 in Jamshoro were affected with a total of 403,325 people displaced; 52,047 houses damaged in 439 villages
Despite being rich in natural resources, having less financial resources, the newly-established Jamshoro district administration could not respond effectively. However, the district government claims it is trying to rehabilitate the flood-affected communities.
The meeting was also attended among others by National Commission for Human Development’s Asif Ali Panhwar, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum’s Ayaz Samo, Thardeep Rural Development Organisation’s Khemchand, Hamdam Foundation’s Muhammad Fazal, Care for Community Development’s Ali Raza Sakhirani and Sindh Development Society’s Ayaz Ali Ogahi.
With the purpose of the consultative meeting to develop a proper plan and strengthen coordination within the humanitarian organisations and government bodies, all participants came to the understanding to share work plans of their interventions in the riverine areas of the Jamshoro district.
‘Talk… for the sake of flood rehabilitation’
