UNIC, the state of play

Dr. Jassim Taqui

DG Al-Bab Institute for Strategic Studies

Islamabad, 2nd October 2022: The devastation of the floods continues to haunt the lives of flood-affected people, with food, health, water, and shelter continuing as life-saving priority areas. We're deeply concerned about the health situation, as diseases are rising. In children, all of them can be life-threatening.

 

• A rapid needs assessment has been conducted in collaboration with the Government, UN, and humanitarian partners, which reveals much high number of people in need of these life-saving support services. The results of the assessment will be shared early next week.

 

• One month after the flash appeal for $ 160 million for immediate relief, we have pledges for $160 million, with 90 million received. We are thankful for the speed of the response from the donors and look forward to future support.

 

• In light of the growing needs, a revised appeal will be made next week in Geneva. The focus of the revised appeal is on life-saving support for immediate, urgent needs.

 

• The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recorded over 1,600 deaths and more than 12,850 injuries since mid-June, including 579 children killed and over 4,000 children injured.

 

• More than 2,000 health facilities are damaged or destroyed, causing a public health emergency, and their contents are damaged, further limiting people's access to health services, while damage to 349 refrigerators and solar direct drive systems have reportedly resulted in disrupted vaccine cold chains. In terms of response, cold chains are being restored, there are ample supplies of vaccines, mobile health camps are providing integrated service delivery, including vaccinations, and in some places, alternate arrangements have been made to house healthcare facilities.

 

• Lack of toilets means people are defecating in the water that they drink from and wash themselves and their children with. This is causing outbreaks of deadly diseases like Acute watery diarrhea, malaria, dengue, gangrene, and other skin issues hence putting further pressure on the health systems. Latrines are being provided in camps and communities, as well as clean water through tankers. Hygiene kits are also being distributed.

 

• Front line workers are the heroes of the hour as lady health workers, doctors, paramedics, and other staff work day and night to help the people, even though they have been affected by the floods.

 

• Food is being delivered to vulnerable families; however, it is still not enough to meet the nutrition needs of the people. Food is one of the main needs of the people who do not know when they will be able to renew their livelihood to be able to feed themselves and their families.

 

• We thank the world for its quick support. However, even with the Government and all the humanitarian organizations working to respond to the immediate needs of the flood-affected people, the extraordinary scale of this devastation means that much more is needed.

 

• We need the media's support to carry the voice of the people to the world so that help can be provided and lives can be saved. Their survival depends on our support enabled with the help of the world.

 

• The number of damaged and destroyed houses in Pakistan now exceeds 2 million, with over 1.2 million houses damaged and over 805,000 houses destroyed as of 23 September. Reports indicate that more than 5,000 schools are currently being used to host displaced populations, while an estimated 23,900 schools have been damaged.

 

• Some 7.9 million people are reportedly displaced due to the heavy rains and floods, including some 598,000 people who are living in relief camps, according to reports by the respective Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of the affected provinces.

 

• The revised 'Pakistan Floods Response Plan 2022' will be launched on 4 October in Geneva. The revised plan, as well as key messages from the plan, will be shared with the media on the same day.