Islamabad: Climate Minister raised alarm on country’s post-flood situation, saying 20 million people were still dependent on humanitarian aid while United Nations funding appeal has received only third of its $ 816 million target.

“Disaster amnesia is not uncommon in world driven by competing goals and human tragedy wrought by Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding has been forgotten by many,” Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said in statement.

“But climate-induced crisis in Pakistan has long-term implications for recovery and resilience in context defined by systemic deficits in climate financing with 20 million people still currently dependent on humanitarian aid, while flash appeals just for humanitarian gap by United Nations have received only 30 percent of $ 816 million,” she added. Floods caused damage worth $ 30 billion and rehabilitation and disaster-reconstruction needs have been estimated at $ 16.3 billion. After months of ongoing humanitarian operations, Rehman said that 14.6 million flood-affected people still needed emergency food assistance from December 2022 to March 2023. “Balochistan is facing severe food insecurity, with 5.5 million people no longer having access to safe and clean drinking water.” Sherry said World Food Programme has said that they will run out of funds by mid-January for Pakistan, putting an additional 1.1 million people at an extreme risk of food insecurity.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 20 2022

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