Pakistan has seen record flooding this summer after heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers engulfed a third of the country.
Islamabad, Pakistan – United Nations report on Floods wreak havoc in Pakistan said more than 240,000 people in the southern province of Sindh were still displaced, while satellite images showed some 8 million people were “still likely to be exposed to flood water or live near flooded areas”.
Follow status report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), announced Tuesday, at least 12 districts continue to report standing water, 10 of them in Sindh and two in Balochistan.
Pakistan has seen catastrophic flooding this summer following heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers that engulfed a third of the country, killing more than 1,700 people and affecting a total of 33 million.
Houses, roads, bridges and railway networks were swept away, with the government estimating total damage at more than $30 billion.
The United Nations report says that while the receding water has allowed millions of people to return home, they continue to face severe shortages of essential items such as food and medicine. It added that flooded areas are currently addressing health-related challenges, although the numbers are showing a declining trend.
Citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations report says malaria cases have dropped by 25% in Balochistan, 58% in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 67% in Sindh since the beginning. September.
The report adds that a large number of malaria and cholera cases are still being reported from Sindh and Balochistan provinces, highlighting “fundamental gaps” in those regions.
The United Nations report adds that more than 600,000 children in Pakistan have not received a single polio vaccine because of their inability to access flood-ravaged areas. Pakistan remains one of only two countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, which is undeclared free polio.
The report also highlights the food security situation in Pakistan. Citing figures from the World Food Program (WFP), another UN agency, it said the highest food-insecure populations were recorded in Sindh (3.9 million) and Balochistan (1.6 million).
“Evidence from the available data suggests that the relief response to date has been inadequate, with more than 5.1 million people currently experiencing IPC 4 conditions in areas affected by the coronavirus. floods,” it said, adding that another 1.1 million people could fall into a similar category as early as 2023.
The IPC’s acute food insecurity classification distinguishes between different levels of food insecurity, with stage four denoting an emergency and five representing a disaster or famine.
Farida Shaheed, former OCHA Special Rapporteur and rights-based development expert, told Al Jazeera that the government’s emergency response to this year’s floods lacked a long-term approach.
“The scale of the devastation is enormous. It’s not something that can be fixed in a few months or a year. People have lost their homes, crops, livestock, means of livelihood. I haven’t seen anything government done with a long-term approach,” she said.
“The perennial problems have accumulated and now they are all here. The devastation from the floods is far beyond scope, but all is far from happening. Our development policies were not working and now we can see the results.”
