UN warns of unprecedented floods, disease, food shortages in Pakistan

UN PR - GHN Editor - On Friday 49 members of the General
Assembly of the UN spoke in support of assistance to Pakistan, as
flooding continues in the country that has been described as of Biblical
proportions.

The

General Assembly spent two days discussing the need for urgent
humanitarian assistance to flood-stricken Pakistan.  Countries were
asked to increase efforts to aid Pakistan to reach the United Nations
$460 million flash appeal.

The United Nations maintains it must " heed what was indeed a moral obligation to quickly address the unfolding human tragedy."

Because
of the desperate need in Pakistan the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have been increasing their
operations, according to representatives on behalf of these
organizations.

 The IFRC has revised its appeal in order to provide humanitarian aid to more than 900,000 people over an 18-month period.

"That
$73.6 million emergency appeal more than quadruple IFRC’s preliminary
appeal," IFRC spokespeople stated.   It went on to declare, "it would
support distribution of emergency food and non-food items, and emergency
shelter, as well as owner-driven reconstruction of houses, delivery of
health services, safe water, and adequate sanitation and hygiene
promotion, among other things."

For
its part, the Asian Development  Bank’s support for reconstruction over
the next two years would be at least $2 billion.  It also planned to
establish and administer a special trust fund to provide a vehicle for
other development partners to channel their contributions for
reconstruction support.

“We
cannot remain unaffected”, said India’s delegate, noting that the South
Asian region was prone to natural disasters and, throughout it, the
vagaries of nature continued to take a heavy tool of human lives.  While
the region was familiar with the human suffering that followed, the
destruction in Pakistan was unprecedented.

Indeed,
even some parts of India bordering Pakistan had been affected by the
floods.  “We share the pain and agony and fully understand the trauma
and suffering that our Pakistani brethren are living through,” he said.

Doctors Without Borders rushes aid to Pakistan victims in growinghumanitarian crisis

GHN News Editor - As the medical situation becomes more
dire each day in Pakistan, Doctors Without Borders has sent supplies
and medical personnel into stricken areas in the midst of a growing
tragedy.

As the flooding increases, Doctors without Borders observes how death

and injuries are followed by other health risks from lack of hygiene,
which is the present situation as the flooding in Pakistan continues.

From the beginning of the present crisis in Pakistan, Doctors Without
Borders, that refers to itself as MSF, in that wing that ventures out
into the field, health care has been provided through several existing
programs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces.

At
the same time new health structures are being created and mobile
clinics set up in two others provinces where the flooding has spread in
the Sindh and Punjab.

Doctors worry about the spread of cholera.

Already
the doctors are finding some of the most common diseases are linked to
the desperate living conditions and the lack of clean water.

 “Out
of more than 10,000 consultations in the last two weeks, the most
common diseases we are treating are skin infections, respiratory
diseases and acute diarrhea,” said Dr. Ahmad Mukhtar, MSF’s medical
coordinator in Pakistan. “Among those patients, there are some suspected
cholera cases, and while we wait for official confirmation, we continue
to provide them with the necessary treatment.”

Cholera is endemic in parts of Pakistan, so it is not surprising to doctors to find the outbreak of new cases.

MSF treated 2,500 patients during a cholera outbreak in August 2009.

Cholera is a disease that one contracts by ingesting infected water or
food. It can spread very easily in unhygienic conditions. Once
contracted, cholera prevents one’s body from retaining water, leading to
high-volume diarrhea and rapid dehydration.

Treatment for cholera is with oral rehydration salts or, in more severe cases, intravenous drips.

“Cholera is one of the severe forms of acute diarrhea,” says Dr.
Mukhtar. “However, a few suspected cases do not mean that we’re on the
verge of an outbreak. We need to remain very vigilant and make sure that
we keep identifying and treating people with acute diarrhea as soon as
possible. We treat people with acute diarrhea exactly as if they had
cholera. Our staff in mobile clinics and in hospitals play a vital role
in identifying and following up possible cases in the community.”

Despite the response so far from volunteer doctors the problem overall grows more serious each day.



Overall, though, there is no
question that much more needs to be done to provide even basic relief to
people in the flood affected areas of Pakistan. More than two weeks
after the onset of the floods, too many people have still received too
little assistance.

Around Leh, MSF is distributing shelter, kitchen, and hygiene kits to
2,000 of the most vulnerable families. The kits contain blankets, soap,
jerry cans, some clothes, cooking items, and tarpaulins.

Flash floods in Leh are reported to have caused widespread destruction
and many homes been swept away. An estimated 25,000 people are affected,
with 150 deaths and hundreds of people missing.

“Despite the logistical challenges, we have managed to start
distributing relief items to those most in need. This is now the
priority,” said Dr. Teshome Ashagre Adebabai, MSF’s team leader in Leh.
“However, we are also assessing medical needs and are mobilizing our
resources to meet those needs as soon as possible.”

MSF is coordinating its efforts with Save the Children and local NGOs
in Leh. In Kargil, the organization will also distribute relief kits to
the most affected families to support the disaster management efforts of
the state authorities.

MSF has worked in Jammu & Kashmir since 2001.



Besides basic healthcare, MSF offers psychosocial counseling to a population traumatized by over two decades of violence

Pakistan pleads for aid from world community

NEW YORK -UN - GHN - At
a press conference August 6, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator asked for
international assistance for his country, Pakistan,  to help 4 million
people affected by the worst flooding in 80 years.

“It’s very urgent

that this gets released,” Martin Mogwanja said, explaining how
additional funds would pay for emergency food, health care, clean water,
sanitation and shelter over 90 days, as well as community restoration,
agricultural protection and logistical support for damaged transport
infrastructure.

The situation has created desperate circumstances for the people of Pakistan, Mogwanja explained.

The UN
Secretary-General has already authorized $10 million from the Central
Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for Pakistan, Mr. Mogwanja said.  But
that money, plus the $9.8 million received by the Organization’s local
emergency relief fund and the $16 million given to its agencies on the
ground, was not enough to mitigate the crisis spanning four of the
country’s largest provinces.

United Nations contingency funds are already running out, he explained.

Mogwanja told
UN officials the deadly floods, triggered by monsoon rains, had spread
throughout much of Pakistan, destroying or badly damaging 250,000 homes
and rendering 1.5 million people homeless.

More flooding is expected.

An estimated
1,400 people are dead, but that figure could rise as new bodies are
found.  The disaster is considered to be “on a par” with the 2005
Kashmir earthquake in terms of the number of people needing assistance
and damage to infrastructure.

The on-the-ground
response effort, led by the Pakistani Government’s National Disaster
Management Authority, had already evacuated by boat or helicopter more
than 50,000 people trapped on rooftops, in buildings and on small
islands, he said.  The United Nations had dispatched assessment response
teams in the affected south-west provinces.

“At this stage,
urgent relief is required for the hundreds of thousands of people who
are displaced and are taking shelter in school classrooms and any kind
of Government building which is available,” Mr. Mogwanja said.

People are running out of basic supplies.

Mogwanja
reiterated the desperate need of his country by saying, "The top
priority  to provide shelter and non-food items that include cooking
sets, buckets, blankets and hygiene kits as well as food, clean water,
sanitation and good health care in case of an outbreak of waterborne
diseases."

Asked why he
believed 4 million people had been affected when others had put the
figure at 12 million, Mr. Mogwanja said his estimates were based on data
from Pakistan’s provincial disaster management authorities.  The number
could rise if floods moving south along the Indus River caused more
embankments to break in southern Sindh province.

Mogwanja gave the
details of what Pakistan presently faces during the terrible flooding.
$150 million to $200 million for relief and recovery efforts would
likely be needed in the coming weeks and months, and possibly more if
the impact of flooding was severe in south Sindh.  The cost of repairing
damaged infrastructure, particularly vital irrigation systems for rural
farmers, could reach $1 billion.

In Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province alone, 80 per cent of the water systems were now
polluted with silt and other runoff, Mr. Mogwanja said.

Aid from
international organizations has only reached an estimated 30 to 40 per
cent of the population; many people had yet to receive adequate food,
clean water and shelter.  154,000 villagers were isolated when 66
bridges were destroyed.

 Relief agencies have been using helicopters to distribute food.

Water-logged terrain has prevented people from burying the dead.

On the number of
missing persons, he said there was no reliable estimate, because not all
affected areas had been accessed and many families had been separated,
making it difficult to know who was alive.  Relief workers were trying
to find the parents of young children separated from their families.

Asked when
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would return to the country, Mr.
Mogwanja said he did not know.  He also declined to comment on the
President’s absence.

Humanitarian crisis: 3 million Pakistanis devastated by flooding

[caption id="attachment_9010" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Children in floods in Pakistan"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - The numbers are staggering of dead, homeless or injured during catastrophes in the past eight months and  raise concerns that people become so numb by the overwhelming nature of the problems they don't know how to act or won't act.

Todays reports are that 3 million Pakistans are devastated by the biggest floods in 100 years.

Some worry that people become disaster numb, that the overwhelming numbers of suffering people heard again and again make people feel powerless, impotent and eventually numb emotionally. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies debuted a play called Times Stands Still  on Broadway that looks at some ov these issues, how people struggle with their consciences and wonder about their feelings as well.  Journalists are tempted to help during emergencies.  But Margulies worries that the impact of these tragedies brings a type of numbness in response as well.

In referring to Haiti, Margulies maintains, "there is compassion fatigue in our society, and that's part of what I touch on in the play. And I think it's understandable—with mass media and the instantaneous nature of it, the pervasive nature of it all, there's no escape. It almost has a numbing effect on people. What's happening with Haiti now is that the coverage was so instantaneous and so enormous that I suspect that the numbness is beginning to take hold. As with any internationally focused catastrophe, there's only so much that people can bear.

Margulies also worries about the impact on the journalists, the sense of frustration that is felt when they believe what they report is somehow not accepted, not read, and not appreciated for the seriousness of the tragedies.

While the public may become weary of coverage, journalists believe there are elements of tragedies that don't get enough coverage.  That's what Margulies says he intends by his play.

What Marguilies tells us is that involvement of a celebrity can keep the concern going on, more so than videographers, photographers and journalists.  It is that celebrity he believes people respond to during these tragic events.

People can begin to identify with these massive problems when they feel they are part of a movement led by a famous person.  That's why organizations involve famous people like a George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, or Susan Sarandon to keep the attention on a major issue.

News reports tell us 3 million people are impacted by floods in Pakistan.

What celebrity will become identified with it or is there a saturation point this year?  With the release of classified documents said to reveal the Pakistanis not entirely in support of the United States war with the terrorists in Afghanistan will that figure into any response that is made?

3 million people in Pakistan is a large number of people to consider don't have homes, proper drinking water or the necessities of life.

Given how celebrities have stepped in and helped call attention to tragedies this large, and what Margulies has said, who will step forward to help?