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Floods Exacerbate Pakistan’s Woes

By Zafar Iqbal

02 October, 2011
Countercurrents.org

Trapped in decade long Taliban and Bloch insurgencies and economic and
energy crisis Pakistan is facing another natural disaster caused by
monsoon floods which so far has killed 434 people, destroyed or
damaged 1.5 million homes and affected 8.9 million people in
Southern provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan. And, 4.2 million acres of
agricultural land have been inundated, ruining the crops, mainly
cotton which is key contributor of 60 per cent exports of the country.
Asian Development Bank estimates that the country has lost $10 billion
in property and agriculture.

Cash-strapped Pakistani government, which faces sharp criticism by the
victims for woeful response, has set aside $57 million for
rehabilitation. Unpredictable huge financial needs for relief and
rehabilitation process will rigorously endanger regular developmental
infrastructure of the country, which heavily relays on foreign aid and
$11 billion from the IMF credit to keep the economy afloat.
Pakistan is already struggling to cope with the colossal losses of
last year’s floods, which killed about 2,000 people, made 11 million
homeless and caused $12 billion burden on country’s shrinking economy.
Taliban insurgency is another nuisance, which caused losses up to
$67.93 billion since 2001 due to Pakistan’s role in the ‘war against
terror’. Besides cultivating unfathomable socio-economic and political
disparities among the regions and citizens primarily originated from
the loss of 35,000 citizens and 3,500 security personal, the war has
also declined the GDP ratio from 22.5 per cent in 2006-07 to 13.4 per
cent in 2010-11.

Since last few decades country has faced many brutal natural and
man-made upheavals but incompetence and incapability of the government
functionaries have been major impediment in tackling such tragedies.
From 2005 earthquake to internal migration of over two million people
in 2009 Swat operation, last year’s catastrophic floods and regular
fluxes of the IDPs in Northern region, Pakistani regime has poorly
failed in swift response in all adversities mainly because of the
lack of professionalism, political will and deplorable isolation and
widening gap between poor and the elite.

The government should have been well organized for the current monsoon
by learning from previous mistakes; nonetheless it again remained
unsuccessful to deliver in preparedness and rescue. As a result, anger
and antipathy runs high among flood victims who need immediate help.
Unfortunately, with a long history of floods, Pakistan has made too
little progress, or none, regarding effective disaster management and
flood control mechanism. At the end of last month, when rains started
and forecasters predicted more catastrophic spells of downpours,
local rescuers rejected the need any international help, claiming
being completely ready to undertake the situation. Conversely, this
was the time when three top office holders- President, Prime Minister
and Speaker, were abroad for their private visits at a tragic time
when millions of poor Pakistani citizens, submerged under water and
diseases, were struggling for their survival. Same happened last year
when, President Zardari continued his foreign visit when flash floods
hit his homeland.

Repeating the same episode in the present floods when torrential
rains, epidemics and poor administrative response execrated the
situation, in an hurriedly called televised address , Prime
Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani disgracefully sought international help
after weeks of rains which till that had killed 141 people and
displaced more than 4 million in southern Sindh province, where these
lives could have been saved if state functionaries behaved humanly.
The United Nations which equates the Pakistani situation with African
famines has appealed for $365m (£231m) to shore up relief and rescue
operations. However, international response is likely to be much
lesser than the volume of the tragedy due to Islamabad’s poor track
record of handling foreign aid and bad image. Quoting a diplomat that
'Pakistan is a bad brand', Joe Cropp, an official of the Red Cross
movement (IFRC) admits that negative perceptions about Pakistan in
international community are impacting humanitarian fundraising
efforts". Consequently, so far only $19 million has been received by
the UN.
This ‘bad brand’ factor is amongst one of the few major factors which
resulted in scant response from the world for rehabilitation of
previous years floods. Only $1.3 billion has been released from total
of $1.9 billion pledged aid for the survivors of the 2010 floods.
Country has already misused $ 473 million international aid donated
for earthquake victims.

Today corruption is rampant in Pakistan. Transparency International
(TI) world corruption index gives 2.3 score to Pakistan, which
parameters as defined by the TI places the country in highly corrupt
regions. Two Pakistani ministers have been sacked in current
government for corrupt practices; of late one of them was arrested for
fiscal fraud. In spite of sub-standard cooperation from lawmakers and
administration, Pakistani judiciary has managed to recover millions of
dollars plundered by high ups. Monis Ilahi, son of a the most senior
minister of the country, is behind the bar for embezzlement charges
in a land scam in which local investigators have also questioned
Prime Minister's sons. In this environment miseries of flood victims
could be coupled if world community hesitates to donate required aid
for flood survivors.

Pakistan is located in a disaster- prone South Asian region, which
loses up to six percent of its GDP due to disasters annually. Climate
change is aggravating the situation especially in the Pakistan, where
repeated floods occur. But water management system is deficient.
Pakistani river management sector is adversely affected by abuse,
corruption, and lack of modern practices and infrastructure. Country’s
highest court has declared that one of the considerable reasons for
profound human and structural loss in last year’s floods were
widespread dishonesty and fraudulent practices in concerned
departments where officials fail to launch preventive measures.

Moreover, Pakistan lacks decent public housing; consequently a large
number of people lives in the banks of rivers and canals and suffer
imperfectly in the monsoon rains. These poor communities need
permanent settlement away from rivers, which can reduce human and
financial loss.

Similarly floods warning system need to be accessible for the public.
Launching a modern irrigation and river system and high standard and
disaster prevention infrastructure can trim down country’s
irrecoverable financial and human loss caused by frequent floods.
Also, integration of climate change in the policy and planning can
help to sustain local water resources.

(The writer is a freelance writer and Executive Director of Press for
Peace (PFP). He could be reached at [email protected])

 

 



 


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