A n estimated 415,195 people are presently living in some 2,656 makeshift relief sites, including schools and public buildings, dotted across Sindh. Some 5.74 million people in different districts of the province have been affected by the floods and thousands of them are camped out on higher ground or on roadsides.
A senior official of the Sindh government said on Saturday that around 925,000 houses have already been damaged or destroyed, together with an estimated 1.6 million acres of crops, and at least 248 people have died. He said the government is in the process to provide around 150,000 tents, and support of the international community could help at least 274,000 vulnerable families feared to be left without emergency shelter.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), following the request forwarded by the authorities concerned, has approached different donor agencies to assist in providing emergency shelter cluster aid to the survivors. Emergency Adviser of the Organisation for Asia Brian Kelly said these kits include thousands of plastic sheet-based shelter kits.
While tents could provide better protection in the short-term, plastic sheet is cheaper, more versatile and could be more useful in the long-term when displaced families return home and use it for waterproofing new shelters and rebuild houses. The IOM, in collaboration with different international non-governmental organisations, has taken upon itself to provide the people whose houses have been destroyed with emergency shelter and other essential non-food relief items.
This is crucial, said Kelly and referred to the recent forecast with more heavy rain expected in the coming days. The IOM has already released to local partners for distribution 18,400 shelter and non-food relief item kits, comprising plastic sheets, ropes, blankets, plastic sleeping mats and cooking utensils.
The kits are currently being distributed to vulnerable people, particularly women and children, in some of the worst-affected districts including Badin, Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Tharparkar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Ghotki, Naushehro Feroze, Khairpur, Dadu, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar and Sanghar.
