Scale of disaster, security risks, spotty organization overwhelm Pakistan aid efforts

By NATHANIAL GRONEWOLD of ClimateWire
Published: October 15, 2010 The fourth in a four-part series on Pakistan’s flood disaster. Click here for part one, here for part two and here for part three. NOWSHERA, Pakistan — “I wonder if humanity exists in other parts of Pakistan.” Salma Begum 32, fumes when asked what the government and international community have done for her family in the weeks since the disastrous flooding here. The only support she has seen comes from the local branch of the Ummah Welfare Trust, a U.K.-based Islamic charity. Many in Pakistan are in the same position, but the people in the Ummah camp are especially furious, as their tents sit right next to a much better-provisioned camp that has received extensive U.N. and government help. Other camp residents speak of a federal government relief operation just 15 minutes down the road that has been set up as something of a Potemkin village, used for tours to show celebrities and top-ranking nongovernmental organization (NGO) officials. Meanwhile, the Ummah camp had yet to even see World Food Programme (WFP) rations at the time of a ClimateWire visit, some two months since this city was first drowned in the floodwaters. Each morning, said the displaced here, they scour the city in search of water for drinking and cooking the food Ummah workers give them. The only time Begum talks to her government representatives is when the police stop to ask her if there are any Islamic extremists living in the camp. “Such ridiculous inquiries really make my blood boil,” she said. “We don’t want to be a bother to anyone, as we are already discriminated. They can just assist in providing cement and bricks, and we will build our houses ourselves.” … The spotty relief and recovery operation in Pakistan provides a glimpse of how greater frequency of such natural disasters — something predicted by many climate scientists — could fray the capacity of the world to cope. With some 20 million people affected and at least 7 million left homeless, aid workers from Pakistan and abroad are now openly saying that it is unlikely everyone will get enough support. Many will be left to completely fend for themselves, though exactly how many is unknown, experts admit. The recovery effort in the north also lays bare the limitations that large international aid groups may face when responding to future crises in relatively unstable countries. …

Scale of Disaster, Security Risks, Spotty Organization Overwhelm Pakistan Aid Efforts