The World Food Program (WFP) completed its first phase of relief operations, provisioning some 140,000 beneficiaries with 1131 metric tonnes of food in three badly affected districts of Jacobabad, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.
“WFP commenced the first phase of immediate food assistance response in three districts prioritized in consultation with the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities of Sindh and Balochistan and relevant district council officers on Sept 24, targeting up to 140,000 beneficiaries with a one-month ration using immediately-available food stocks,” said an official of WFP on Sunday.
Talking to APP he said, infrastructural damage, the persistence of standing waters and an unpredictable security situation remained key challenges to achieve their task. Poor road conditions have already resulted in damage to some food, he informed, adding that two trucks submerged along waterlogged routes earlier this week.
Giving details of the second phase, he said as the funds promised by some donors may be coming in soon, WFP plans to immediately start the provisioning of a one-month relief food ration to some 1.2 million flood victims.
He informed that in consultation with Multi-Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA), they selected five highly food insecure districts including Jacobabad, Kashmore, Shikapur, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.
“It must be noted, however, that these needs may still be adjusted in line with final MIRA results, and that any expansion of or extension to this assistance would be contingent upon further resources being made available to WFP”, he remarked.
Targeting would also be conducted in coordination with district authorities, Provisional District Management Authorities (PMDAs) and Food Security Cluster counterparts for ensuring the most efficient use of available resources and avoid gaps and overlaps in the delivery of assistance.
In coordination with government counterparts and the Pakistan Fisher-folk Forum (a national NGO), the WFP-led Logistics Cluster has deployed fibre-glass motorboats for use in PDMA and district authority search and rescue efforts as well as for the transportation of food and other essential relief items, the official said.
“Currently, 29 of the 30 boats available are operational in Jaffarabad, Naseerabad, Jacobabad and Kashmore. These have been used to rescue 10,000 stranded flood victims and carried close to 4 metric tons of food to isolated locations,” he stated.
More than 3,000 tents and 1,400 metric tons of food have been transported from Quetta to Naseerabad at the request of the Balochistan PDMA. The Logistics Cluster has been extending its support to a broad range of other humanitarian organizations by providing GIS and mapping services to facilitate response planning.