No relief ... a child collects water from a well at a camp for flood victims in Nowshera, Pakistan. Pneumonia remains a huge threat, especially to children, as temperatures plummet in December, 2010. Reuters

By Matt Wade
December 4, 2010 UNDERESTIMATED from the start and then quickly forgotten. That is how aid workers have summed up the international reaction to the Pakistan floods, one of the worst natural disasters in modern times. More than four months after the emergency, more than 10 million are still receiving daily emergency assistance and nearly 7 million remain without adequate shelter. The aid agency Save the Children has warned that freezing winter conditions in flood-affected areas pose a fresh risk to flood victims, especially children. ”This must not become a forgotten emergency, especially now as children could die due to cold-related illnesses like pneumonia,” said Mike Penrose, Save the Children’s director of emergency response. ”More children will die in the flood areas if they don’t get the appropriate treatment in time. We are already seeing an increasing number of chest infection cases. The immediate need is to ensure people can keep warm and have proper shelter.” The devastating monsoon flooding in July and August, which affected 21 million people, destroyed entire villages, wiped out 2 million hectares of crops and caused widespread damage to basic infrastructure. Large tracts of the southern Sindh province are still inundated and some communities remain surrounded by floodwaters. Even before the floods hit, about 85,000 children died from pneumonia each year in Pakistan. This winter millions of children will be forced to live in the open, or in tents, with little or no access to healthcare, and this could fuel the spread of pneumonia respiratory disease. In mountainous parts of northern Pakistan, hard hit by flooding, temperatures are already falling below freezing. Aid workers are mystified by the scanty public response to the floods and warn that a lack of resources is hampering relief and rehabilitation work. ”People seem more interested in cricket scandals, terrorism and WikiLeaks, so I fear it’s going to take something catastrophic [to gain world attention],” Khurram Masood, from Save the Children in Pakistan, told the Herald. Oxfam warned last month that ”many” relief programs were in danger of being terminated because money had run out. The World Health Organisation and UNICEF revealed recently they may have to close some emergency operations and cut staff because of insufficient funding. … Tim Costello, the head of World Vision Australia, says it is ”exactly right” to say the Pakistan floods were underestimated from the start and then quickly forgotten. The lacklustre international response ”defies all logic”, he said. …

Forgotten flood victims face grim winter