Flood victims are dying and nobody cares

National Humanitarian Network (NHN) on, representative network of more than 180 national NGOs working in humanitarian sector, on Wednesday expressed grave concern over the plight of millions of flood affectees and sluggish flood response in Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab.
The network stressed upon the government and humanitarian agencies to take urgent actions to provide food, shelter, drinking water, emergency support and hygiene facilities to the affectees in rain affected areas of Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.
In a statement, NHN expressed their biggest concern about the upcoming winter, fearing that thousands may face severe hardship for lack of shelter and proper clothing. Similarly poor water and sanitation facilities may result in outbreak of epidemics.
NHN also added that while it appreciates the government’s resolve to tackle disasters without seeking international support, it stressed that this requires higher levels of preparations, an agile array of disaster management authorities and timely action to avert human catastrophe. NHN expressed regret that so far the government has been unable to meet this challenge.
There are also concerns over stagnant pools of standing water spread over hundreds of kilometers that has paralyzed life in the flood affected areas that will cause serious health and hygiene affects and making mobility to flood affected areas difficult.
Ill planned dewatering from certain areas as causing flooding in adjacent areas and thus affecting more people. NHN regretted that in spite of last two years of devastating floods, the response has been inadequate and slow, leaving thousands of people still marooned in flooded areas.
NHN is also worried that inundation of vast swathes of agriculture land will deprive thousands of families from their source of livelihood and push them to the quagmire of poverty. People in these areas were still scrambling to recover from disastrous flood of 2010 and were already facing economic hardship. This year’s floods have virtually perished them and their recovery needs a well coordinated rehabilitation package. NHN called for urgent action to recover these lands and provide needed financial and technical support to farmers to cultivate next crop. Furthermore, NHN called for compensation money to be provided to families who have lost houses, livelihood resources and other assets.
NHN also explained that in absence of appeal by the government, aid agencies are not providing support to humanitarian organizations to reach out to millions of flood affectees hence national NGOs are unable to play their role in relief operations. In spite of this constraint, national NGos are taking every possible effort to extend their modest support to flood affectees through their own meager resources.
NHN also regretted that humanitarian coordination at the provincial and the district level is not functioning and disaster management authorities are not involving civil society in emergency response activities and sole reliance on bureaucratic machinery, which could be heavily influenced by political and other local power structures.
NHN demanded immediate and focused action to restore and strengthen flood resistance structures, canal and river infrastructures and other early warning systems to avoid similar humanitarian crisis in future.