Get ready, Pakistan’s monsoon season is coming: Oxfam

Karachi, March 09, 2011 (PPI): The next monsoon season is still months away, but after the deadly floods in the country last year aid workers and experts are warning that adequate preparedness is still lacking.

“Now is the time to build up Pakistan's resilience to disaster,” said Neva Khan, director of NGO Oxfam in Pakistan. “The cost of implementing safeguards pales in comparison to damage to lives and property [that could be caused by the monsoon].”

Monsoon season usually runs from July till September. Last year, more than 20 million people in 78 districts were affected by worst floods: Some 2.4 million hectares of standing crops and about a third of rice planted that year were destroyed; paddy yields dropped by 38 on previous year, according to UN Food & Agriculture Organization.

Many of those affected are yet to fully recover. In Sindh province, 80,000 displaced people are still living in camps and spontaneous settlements, according to UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Efforts to help those affected by floods are continuing. Over 2.5 million people benefited from construction of almost 63,700 latrines. Over 921,000 families received hygiene kits, and 6.6 million individuals have been reached with hygiene promotion activities, OCHA reported on 3 March.

The plight of people in areas where rain triggers flash floods and landslides has highlighted need for disaster preparedness, according to UN Secretary-General’s special representative for disaster risk reduction, Margareta Wahlström.

Pakistan, which according to International Strategy for Disaster Reduction ISDR is at continued risk of both man-made and natural disasters, lost an estimated US$8.74-10.85 billion - about a third of its 2009-2010 budgets, to the July floods.

Yet World Bank and Asian Development Bank estimate that investment of only $27 million in disaster risk reduction mechanisms could greatly reduce losses from future disasters. Speaking at end of visit to Pakistan on 22 February, Wahlström said there was a clear need to “build resilience to future floods, just as Pakistan embarks on reconstruction of flood-affected areas following devastating floods of July 2010.”

Ahmed Kamal, National Disaster Management Authority’s spokesman said Planning Commission was “undertaking post-flood reconstruction. Policy is to build back better” by putting in place disaster-resistant housing and other structures.