2023-08-25 08:03:04
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — The United Nations children’s agency warned Friday that, one year following the devastating floods in Pakistan, some 4 million children still need humanitarian aid and access to essential services as funding shortfalls continues to hamper recovery.
UNICEF’s announcement comes as authorities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province worked around the clock to evacuate people from areas flooded by the flooding of the Sutlej River. Since Aug. 1, rescuers have pulled more than 100,000 people from flooded areas in Kasur and Bahawalpur districts.
At a UN-backed conference in Geneva more than six months ago, dozens of countries and international institutions pledged more than $9 billion to help Pakistan recover and rebuild following last summer’s floods. But most of the commitments were in the form of project loans, which are still in the planning phase.
“This monsoon rainy season is worsening already difficult conditions for communities affected by flooding, which has tragically claimed the lives of 87 children across the country,” UNICEF said in a statement.
An estimated eight million people, of whom around half are children, continue to live without access to safe drinking water in the affected areas, the agency added. In addition, more than 1.5 million children still require vital nutritional help in those districts, while UNICEF’s appeal to raise $173.5 million is only 57% funded.
“Vulnerable children living in flood-affected areas have suffered a horrible year,” said Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF representative in Pakistan. “They have lost loved ones, their homes and schools.”
The new monsoon season has raised fears of another climate disaster, he added.
Floods last year caused more than $30 billion in damage and large swathes of the country were inundated for months, affecting 33 million people and killing 1,739. The floods destroyed or damaged 30,000 schools, 2,000 sanitation facilities and 4,300 water supply systems.
According to UNICEF, a third of the country’s children were already out of school before the floods, while malnutrition reached emergency levels and access to drinking water and sanitation were worryingly low.
The southern province of Sindh was one of the hardest hit last year. But Ajay Kumar, a spokesman for the local disaster management agency, told The Associated Press that authorities had not received any complaints or petitions from the affected districts.
Those who live in displacement camps or on the roadsides have returned to their homes because they received compensation for the damages and losses suffered, the spokesman explained. The reconstruction and rehabilitation of houses, schools and health centers was in the hands of local organizations. “I can say that the situation here is normal,” he said.
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Zarar Khan contributed to this report.
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