Every Child’s Right - Responding to the Floods in Pakistan
The Pakistan floods began in July 2010 following heavy monsoon rains. The disaster has inexorably worsened for five straight weeks, with floodwaters engulfing the country from north to south. Over two thousand people have died and over a million homes have been destroyed since the flooding began.
More than 20 million people have been affected. With over 10 million children hit by the flooding, the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is so massive that the actual scale continues to elude the imagination of the public across the world.
Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area has been underwater due to the flooding. Flooding has also destroyed large tracts of agricultural land and crops within an already food-insecure country. Given the widespread crisis, the risk of child malnutrition looms large, with the very young extremely vulnerable. Malnutrition is compounded by the vicious circle of contaminated water, bad sanitation and poor hygiene practices, which is also likely to lead to illness and further malnutrition, and malnutrition in turn increasing the risk of sickness.
Some areas of Pakistan, notably Sindh Province, continue to be flooded and hundreds of thousands of people are still being evacuated. The emergency is by no means over. In other areas, as flood waters recede, people are moving back to homes. Livelihoods have been destroyed in areas where people were already struggling to meet their daily survival requirements before the floods.
The impact of the floods will continue to be felt for years, even decades, to come. Initial estimates from the Government of Pakistan and the International Financial Institutions suggest that tens of billions of dollars in damage has been dealt to the economy and infrastructure. The cost in human terms is incalculable. Continued efforts need to be made immediately to ensure there is sufficient support for responding to the immediate crisis as well as the early recovery components that need to be addressed simultaneously. Recovery – and fulfilling every child’s right – will take a long time.
