If only there were more dams - damn it

Pakistan is arguably facing its toughest time ever; natural calamities, ethnic violence, the ongoing war on terror, and a fragile economy - all have converged to paint a horrifying picture across the country.
The ongoing havoc caused by the flood has destroyed many lives and hopes. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which has been the most affected seems to have gone 50 years back according to the provincial Chief Minister. Imagine a region going back 50 years, when in fact it was never close to the modern day world anyway.
As expected, the so-called Friends of Pakistan have extended supporting hands in the shape of pledges. There is no denying that Pakistan direly needs foreign assistance, but any complacency in this regard by depending solely on these pledges might backfire.
Since the pledges may or may not materialize, the onus falls on the provincial and federal governments to tackle the disaster with available resources at hand.
The timing of the flood could not have been worse as provinces now have to deal with the available resources post-NFC award. The federation is left with limited fiscal space, which will hamper the smaller provinces ability to tackle the situation.
The Rs21 million monetary support extended so far by the KP provincial government, as per latest data released by the National Disaster Management Authority, exposes the budgetary limitations.
It is a bit too early to assess the economic losses as the authorities are engaged in rescue and relief activities, but media reports suggest huge livestock and agriculture land losses in number of areas - which may take years to be recovered. The loss of human lives is undoubtedly invaluable and irrecoverable.
Worst of all, the related authorities believe that the worse is yet to come as the flood water is fast approaching lower Punjab and upper Sindh, where the losses could be far greater.
Pakistan faces a real fear of supply side shocks and infrastructure damage. Signs of inflationary pressure on perishable food items have already started emerging and, with Ramadan approaching fast, inflation reaching sky high levels cannot be entirely ruled out.
If and when the calamity does wreck the agriculture areas of Sindh and Southern Punjab, the loss to the economy could be greater than the 20-30 bps potential loss to the GDP, according to KASB Securities estimates, which seems on the optimistic side.
The catastrophic situation, on the other hand also offers another chance for Pakistan to show unity and solidarity as a nation, which it demonstrated back in the 2005 earthquake. As a matter of coincidence, these floods have hit at the country with Ramadan round the corner, which could lead to massive charity inflows as most people pay Zakat during the holy month and also spend more on charity.
The next few days should decide the fate of many Pakistanis and the countrys economic targets, whether they will be missed or met. The present calamity cannot be undone, but one hopes someone learns the lessons from this episode and take hints from that word - which is dam.