The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Wednesday said that it received only 35 percent of the amount pledged by world donors after a United Nations appeal for Pakistani flood victims, and that it would soon launch a fresh appeal to meet its requirement of $400 million.
NDMA Chairman Dr Zafar Qadir, while addressing a press conference, said the UN had asked the world community in September to provide $356 million for the flood victims, but the world remained skittish in donating the money. Qadir said the NDMA had curtailed some of its projects due to shortage of funds, adding that the provinces would now prioritise the projects and provide a list of crucial projects within a week.
He said the NDMA had cut down the management fee of the UN and other international agencies from 25-30 percent to 15 percent of the aid money.
Giving details of the revised Response Plan, the NDMA chairman said the total affected population was 5.15 million, with 4.82 million in Sindh and 0.332 million in Balochistan. He added that around 16 percent of the affected families were still living in temporary shelters due to several reasons, and that around 76 percent of the families required shelter in order to start a normal life again regardless of the fact that they were living in refugee camps or their broken houses. He said the floods had damaged 800,000 houses, of which 330,000 were completely destroyed. He added that 2,000 health facilities in Sindh and Balochistan were either damaged or completely destroyed in the recent floods. Qadir also informed that Malaria and Diarrhoea were the most common diseases in the flood affected areas and that the NDMA would need international assistance to combat the outbreaks. About agricultural losses, the NDMA chairman said that crops over 2.28 million acres were destroyed and around 116, 557 heads of cattle had perished in the floods.
According to the revised figures, approximately 9,781 schools were damaged in Sindh and Balochistan, affecting the education of one million children.
