Flood survivors clutching at straws

The peoples government of Pakistan seems to be moving towards international isolation by not implementing critical flood preemptive measures, to the detriment of vulnerable flood survivors.
The recently released Oxfam report on Pakistans flood preparedness, "Ready or Not", is a painful reminder of that. Homelessness of 37,000 people in Sindh and makeshift housing of 800,000 families nationwide are just two aspects of the misery in waiting.
The report warns that many villages are again vulnerable to floods because river embankments have not been reconstructed. Fears of crop destruction have led to fewer crop plantations this year. According to the United Nations (UN), two to five million people could be affected if floods strike again this year.
The government hasn been able to kick start post-flood reconstruction yet and has restricted itself to issuing only cash handouts to flood affectees. This has led Oxfam to appeal to people to make their own arrangements in utter desperation as the monsoon season is in full swing these days.
Oxfams despondency in the wake of the governments indifference hasn deterred it from asking the government to implement recommendations made by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank in their post-floods Damage and Needs Assessment (DNA) report (November 2010). It asked Pakistan to invest $27 million backed up with yearly top-ups to improve disaster management and reduce losses in future emergencies.
The DNA report had also developed three options for post-flood reconstruction. The first option focused on
eplacement of the lost infrastructure and restoration of livelihood, trade and business activities, at a cost of $6.8 billion.
The second option estimated building back the damaged infrastructure etter at a cost of $7.4 billion, while the third option, costing ($8.9 billion), three focused on future flood protection by building back etter and safer.
The government proved itself shortsighted yet again as the National Flood Reconstruction Plan 2011 (NFRP) stated, "In view of the current financial constraint being faced by Pakistan, reconstruction effort is restricted to Option 1, the least costly."
This effectively means replacing the same infrastructure to pre-floods level having little resistance, in addition to the replacement time of three to four years.
While Oxfam has rightly pointed out to the government the need to deliver on its pledge to earmark at least two percent of district budgets for disaster preparedness, it seems unlikely that the federal government, caught in the fiscal stabilisation rut, would pay any heed.
With river embankments and resistant infrastructure absent, Pakistanis are more vulnerable to floods than ever. The current flood forecasting and early warning systems is also ineffective. It is now being upgraded with technical assistance from UNESCO through a $3.5 million grant from the Japanese government; however it will take at least two years to be operational.
International community and donor agencies are getting increasingly wary of the governments indifference. Even last year, UN appeal for critical flood rescue and recovery activities fell short by $600 million. Some call donor fatigue to be responsible for lackluster international humanitarian assistance in response to the 2010 floods, as the Haiti earthquake had just preceded the floods by six months.
God forbid, if floods strike again, this could become a Pakistan fatigue as concerns will be raised and questions asked about the governments preemption strategy and preparedness given monsoon rains often provoke flash floods.
Policymakers should take a serious note of this as the international community does not seem to have an appetite for throwing good money after bad. If things go on like this, do not disturb could well be the writing on the wall.