Pakistan Monsoon Floods Situation Report September 2010

Transcription

1 Pakistan Monsoon Floods Situation Report September 2010 This report was issued by UNOCHA Pakistan. It covers the period from 9 to 14 September. The next report will be issued on or around 17 September. I. HIGHLIGHTS/KEY PRIORITIES The emergency continues to unfold in the southernmost province of Sindh. Additional towns and villages in Dadu and Jamshoro districts have been flooded in recent days, as Manchar Lake breached its banks. The health cluster warns of an increased risk of malaria, particularly in the south, in the coming days and weeks. A fully revised floods response plan, the Floods Emergency Response Plan (FERP), will be launched in New York on 17 September by United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos. Though 74% of the requirements set out in the Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan (PIFERP) have now been covered, massively scaled up donor support will be needed to meet the increased requirements set out in the FERP. II. Situation Overview Revised government estimates indicate that the floods have affected 20 million people, of which over 75 percent are in Sindh and Punjab (National Disaster Management Authority). New towns and villages were inundated in Sindh s Dadu and Jamshoro districts over the weekend as Manchar Lake overflowed. Floodwaters entered Jhangar and Bajara towns, near the southern bank of the lake, on 13 September. Water supplies to Sehwan tehsil in Jamshoro were reportedly cut on the same day, due to possible contamination. In Punjab the provincial government is now carrying out housing damage assessments in affected districts along the banks of the Indus River (Minawali, Bhakkar, Layyah, Muzaffargarh, D.G. Khan, Rajanpur and R.Y. Khan). These assessments will provide a basis for provision of government compensation to families whose houses were destroyed. Separately from housing compensation, disbursement of cash assistance by the provincial government (PKR20,000 per affected family) is also underway. These cash payments are part of a plan announced at the federal level to provide financial support to all flood-affected families. Grants will be provided in all 11 affected districts in the province (Khushab, Jhang, Multan and Bahawalpur in addition to the districts mentioned above). With floodwaters largely having receded in Punjab, restrictions on the movement of international staff are now the principal access constraint in the province. Dialogue with provincial authorities on the need for humanitarian agencies to have unfettered access to affected districts is ongoing. In Balochistan, the security situation continues to pose operational challenges, restricting the ability of the humanitarian community to scale up its response. Though floodwaters are receding in most areas, access to affected populations in parts of Jaffarabad district is still very limited due to damage to infrastructure and high water levels. The United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) continues to advise all humanitarian staff to be aware of security risks in affected areas, including those directly related to the floods such as violent demonstrations and aid-related crime. Further security information is available from UNDSS directly (contact details below). and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors.

2 III. Humanitarian Needs and Response Agriculture Needs: As the critical wheat-planting season approaches, and families in many areas begin to return to their land, the need for agricultural inputs is enormous and pressing. Stored seeds for planting have been lost and need to be replaced, along with fertilizers. Although water stands in many of the affected areas, it is expected that planting can take place where water has receded. The time limit for sowing wheat is approximately the end of November/mid-December. Planting after this point will lead to drastic losses in yield. Standing water in kacha areas of Punjab and Sindh, will likely remain for many more weeks and wheat planting will not be possible. Response: 200,000 flood affected families are being assisted 150,000 with agricultural inputs and 50,000 with livestock support. Distribution of supplementary animal feed and veterinary support has been completed in Kohistan (5,700 families) and continues in Nowshera and Charsadda districts in KPK (12,600 families). Gaps and Constraints: Given the extensive damage to the means of agricultural production land, inputs, infrastructure and livestock the funding requirements for agriculture will be significant in the revised response plan, to be published at the end of this week. Interventions by agriculture cluster members will necessarily be pragmatic, simple and implementable, to reach as many people as possible across the country. Camp Coordination and Camp Management Needs: The number of people in camps in Sindh has risen sharply, particularly in Jamshoro and Thatta districts. The Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) now reports over 1.4 million people in government-operated sites in the province. The Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) cluster continues to report uneven assistance being provided in camps, with some attracting significant support from private parties during the Eid period, and basic assistance yet to be provided in others. Response: CCCM task force meetings are underway or set to begin in all affected provinces. CCCM partner agencies have met to discuss planning and mapping of resources/needs. Efforts are ongoing throughout affected regions to implement the CCCM strategy so that conditions for displaced people in the temporary sites improve. In northern areas of Pakistan there is a need to coordinate return initiatives and provision of assistance in return areas so that people minimise potential reluctance to leave camps. Steps are underway to establish contact with the National Database Registration Authority at provincial levels and rapid assessments are underway. Gaps and Constraints: The vast number of sites in Sindh province and the multitude of actors present poses challenges for the cluster. Greater efforts must be made to establish links with District Coordination Officers and PDMAs to ensure better coordination amongst agencies and effective aid delivery. Education Needs: With 9,088 educational facilities damaged by floods, there is a need to provide temporary structures for fully damaged schools to ensure continuation of education during the transition period from tents to permanent buildings. Other school supplies such as tents, school-in-box-kits (SIBs) and recreation kits are also needed. There is a need to adopt an integrated approach towards improvement in education which includes quality education for both boys and girls, food incentives to enhance enrolment and nutrition, better health and hygiene conditions at schools and provision of psychosocial support for children and teachers. Over 1.5 million flood-displaced persons are residing in 5,647 schools; these people need to be sensitized on clean and safe use of facilities at these schools. Response: The number of temporary learning centres (TLCs) has reached 259 (UNICEF: 255, Read Foundation: 4) providing learning and recreational activities to 23,475 children. Some 5,790 adults are benefiting from 193 adult literacy centres (NCHD: 153, UNESCO: 40). UNICEF has supplied 196 SIBs (one 2

3 SIB containing books, notebooks and other supplies for 40 to 80 children), 103 recreational kits, 12,697 school retention kits, and teaching and learning materials to TLCs. Emergency Telecommunications Response: The cluster is now providing ICT support in Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, Abbotabad, Muzafarabad, Karachi, Buner, Multan, Sukkur and Hyderabad. Additional ETC hubs are planned in Kohat, D.I. Khan and Mingora (KPK), in addition to Sibi (Balochistan). VSAT terminals have been installed in Sukkur and Multan to provide backup connectivity at interagency hubs in these locations. UNDSS has installed a VHF repeater in Sukkur. Equipment for the establishment of three communications centres in KPK (Mingora, Kohat and D.I. Khan) has been dispatched to Peshawar by UNHCR. The cluster continues to provide ICT support to UN Agencies in Multan, Sukkur and Hyderabad. Gaps and Constraints: Security concerns and challenges related to the importation of telecommunications equipment remain the principal challenges. Food Needs: Millions of people throughout the country are still displaced, requiring immediate food and other relief items. Rapid needs assessments have been completed by WFP in KPK, Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan; results are being processed. Results from these and other assessments will provide revised estimates on the number of people in need of food assistance, both in the forms of relief and early recovery. Response: Current estimates by the food cluster indicate that over 6.3 million people have been assisted with food rations in more than 60 districts, in KPK, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK), Gilgit-Baltistan and FATA. These are preliminary figures from the cluster 3W (Who, What, Where), which aims to determine the spread of agencies providing food assistance and to help identify gaps. To assist in this exercise, the food cluster launched on 6 September an online tracking system to track food assistance at a more detailed level, with cluster members contributing figures on a weekly basis (presently available at the site Ongoing efforts are being made to prioritise locations requiring immediate intervention. Alongside government and UN efforts, over 50 organizations are involved in food relief efforts. Since the inception of the flood response, it is estimated that at least 73,000 metric tons of food have been distributed to people in need (figures currently being verified through the revised 3W exercise). Gaps and Constraints: While access obstacles are constraining the scaling up of humanitarian assistance in the immediate period, additional funding is now urgently required to allow for an expansion of activities to address the totality of emerging needs and avoid gaps. While many donors have announced pledges, the food cluster urges them to confirm their donations in order to ensure that sufficient food can be purchased and pre-positioned in target locations throughout September. Health Needs: The health cluster warns of a significantly increased risk of malaria among flood-affected populations in the coming days and weeks. The cluster s disease early warning system (DEWS) has pointed towards a higher proportion of malaria cases in affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan than in other areas. Latest information indicates that over 15% of health facilities in affected areas have been either damaged or destroyed. The cluster estimates that there is a need to provide health assistance to 14 million flood affected people, including 3 million children under age five and 3 million women of child-bearing age. Response: A total of 165 static health units and almost 1,200 mobile health units are now operating in floodaffected areas. A first shipment of insecticide-treated bed nets is expected in the country shortly, but will cover initial needs only. The government has distributed 200,000 malaria tablets and 40,000 insecticide-treated nets in KPK, Balochistan and Sindh, as part of its malaria control programme. Emergency immunization campaigns are underway in all flood-affected provinces; until 30 August, over 445,000 children have been vaccinated against polio, while 428,000 have been vaccinated against measles. Over 338,000 children have received vitamin A supplementation. UNFPA continues to support 23 mobile service units for outreach services, and 16 government health facilities (14 basic level and two referral level health facility), providing emergency reproductive health care services. Inter-agency reproductive health kits made available through these service delivery points will serve the needs of 1.2 million population for the next 3 months. In total, 3

4 health cluster partners have distributed medical supplies and treatments to cover the health needs (including maternal and newborn health, malaria and children s medicines) of four million people. Logistics Response: Preparations for the construction of an International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP) base camp in Sukkur in support of humanitarian organisations operating in Sindh province are underway. Camp equipment is in transit from Karachi to Sukkur and the IHP team members have arrived in Pakistan to complete and administer the base camp. UNHAS Helicopters are now operational from Karachi; there are now five UNHAS helicopters delivering emergency relief to inaccessible locations in Pakistan. Four are operating in Sindh province (from Sukkur, Pano Aqil and Karachi) and one is based in Punjab (Multan). In addition to the UNHAS helicopters, the logistics cluster is continuing to facilitate access to air assets through the Joint Aviations Operations Group. The Logistics Cluster is providing two 2-metric ton trucks and three 6-metric ton trucks in Multan and five 10-metric ton trucks in Sukkur and Pano Aqil for movement of cargo from airstrips to warehouses available for logistics cluster participants. Over 1,800 metric tons of relief cargo has been airlifted to inaccessible areas since air operations began on 5 August. Construction of a mobile storage unit (MSU) in Nawab Shah and the preparation of warehouse space in Hyderabad has been completed. Organisations interested in making use of airlift and temporary storage services are invited to submit Cargo Movement and/or Temporary Storage Request forms available on the logistics cluster website. ( Gaps and Constraints: Detailed inputs from organisations regarding storage and air transport requirements in each province will better enable the coordination of Logistics Cluster services throughout the country. Mass Communications IOM s mass communications team are developing targeted messages for flood-affectees and transmitting them through various communication channels and tools. Examples to date include: Public service announcements (PSAs) on FM radio stations in flood-affected districts in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashto with information on health, water and sanitation, protection, mine risk awareness and shelter information A humanitarian Yellow Pages, detailing services and access procedures developed and distributed to humanitarian actors in KP, Punjab and Sindh A humanitarian call center in Peshawar sending SMS/ text informational messages to flood-affectees and receiving and answering specific queries. Banners detailing shelter construction using plastic sheeting produced and printed in Urdu and Sindhi for display at distribution centers. Banners on solar-powered water filtration using 2 litre transparent plastic bottles printed and distributed in flood-affected settlements in KPK, Sindh and Punjab. Using the technique, floodaffectees will be able to produce safe drinking water in 6 hours using only a plastic bottle and direct sunlight. 61 humanitarian call points established with support from Zong telecommunications provider and managed with help from local organizations in Punjab, Sindh and KP. Each call point has 800 free minutes of call time per day for use by flood-affectees to contact relatives, relief or medical services. Communications staff are seconded to FATA Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) and PDMA in KP to train staff in effective communication and information management Print campaign launched in national newspapers on behalf of NDMA, asking the Pakistani public for in-kind donations Partnership with Internews to distribute 5,000 radios to allow flood-affected families to access information on available relief services. Banners advertising the radio stations are displayed at distribution points. 4

5 Nutrition Needs: The cluster estimates that about 15 percent of the total flood-affected population are children under age five while some 8 percent are pregnant and lactating women (PLW) who require urgent nutrition support due to their specific needs. Response: Additional quantities of ready-to-use supplementary food (2,600 boxes of plumpy doz) have arrived in the country. Planning is underway to begin blanket feeding distributions and to scale up treatment of acute malnutrition in affected areas. So far, 17,762 children and 29,462 PLW have received fortified blended food and BP5 biscuits. To control micro-nutrient deficiencies and prevent under-nutrition, 18,179 children and 18,722 PLW have received micro-nutrient supplementation. The cluster has reached more than 8,000 community members (both male and female) with key messages on breast-feeding, appropriate complementary feeding, hand washing and hygiene in camps in Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, D.G Khan and R.Y. Khan, through lady health workers. WHO, WFP and UNICEF have issued a joint statement on behalf of the nutrition cluster, highlighting the critical role of breast-feeding and appropriate complementary feeding during emergencies. More than 30 Supplementary Feeding Programmes (SFP) and 30 out-patient therapeutic programmes (OTP) are functional in flood affected districts of KPK. About 30 severely malnourished children with complications have been admitted in the stabilization centers in the past two weeks. UNICEF is establishing a stabilization centre for severely malnourished children with complications at Larkana Civil Hospital in Sindh, while another is already functional in Rajanpur in Punjab. Cluster partners have agreed to establish three sub-working groups: Nutrition Assessment and Surveillance, Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Gaps and Constraints: There is a lack of pre-flood data on nutrition, which is required for planning purposes. Quick implementation of the CMAM programme at the field level in the affected districts is also a challenge due to a shortage of experienced organisations and human resources. Protection Needs: Continuing displacement in Sindh has increased the need for the provision of basic necessities, particularly in Jamshoro and Thatta districts. There continue to be reports of discrimination against minority groups and members of lower castes in the distribution of assistance in Sindh, and disorderly distribution of assistance has lead to violence, in addition to compounding the ability of vulnerable groups to access aid. MCRAM assessments confirm that access to food and NFIs are common causes of disputes among displaced people. It has been observed that a large number of displaced persons have lost their computerised national identity cards (CNICs). There are reports of increased domestic violence and of perceptions of insecurity among displaced women. Previously reported child protection needs persist, including establishment of additional child friendly spaces (CFS) and scaled-up identification of separated, unaccompanied and missing children. In Balochistan, individual protection cases remain underreported and further streamlining of referral procedures is needed. UNHCR field teams in Balochistan report a continuing need to reinforce targeted assistance for persons with specific needs (malnourished children, pregnant women and the elderly). The need to strengthen sanitation and hygiene conditions as well as health services in the IDP camps has also been reiterated. Response: The first protection cluster meeting in Punjab will take place on 14 September. The cluster continues to work closely with other clusters and national authorities to ensure appropriate assistance for the newly-displaced. Rapid Protection Assessments (RPAs) will be launched in all provinces. RPAs in Punjab will be based on a format developed by IRC. An RPA in Balochistan is ongoing. A system for incident reporting in Balochistan has been agreed. The protection cluster continues to advocate against discrimination against excluded groups. A total of 147 static and 22 mobile CFS have been established nationally, providing more than 45,066 children with educational and recreational support. 14,834 NFIs, mostly clothes and shoes, have been distributed to women and children in Punjab and KPK. 2,141 women and 25,629 children have been provided with psychosocial support. 264 children out of 397 unaccompanied, separated and missing children have been reunified with their families. Gaps and Constraints: Expanded therapeutic and supplemental feeding programmes are needed in Sindh. There is limited capacity at the district level to support returnees and assessment of return areas is needed. Capacity of managing data that is being reported from various sources is limited. The ability to identify and 5

6 respond to sexual and gender based violence is restricted due to the taboos on discussing such issues. There is a need for enhanced employment and livelihood opportunities for flood affectees. Geographical coverage by the cluster is uneven to date just one CFS has been established in Sindh. Additional help lines are also needed outside KPK in particular. Security continues to restrict the activities of the protection cluster in Balochistan. Shelter and NFIs Needs: The number of houses reported as damaged or destroyed is unchanged at 1.8 million (NDMA). Overall coverage of this caseload by the shelter cluster is estimated at 18 percent. There continues to be a huge need for emergency shelter support in all provinces. There is also an increasing need for transitional shelter support as people return to their damaged or destroyed homes where possible. At present, over 1.2 million households have neither received emergency shelter material nor will be covered by the current reported pipeline. Winter clothing will be needed in the coming months and should be added to the list of NFIs to be distributed. Response: A key priority for the cluster during the reporting period has been the review and revision of projects proposed for inclusion in the revised floods response plan. A total of 104 projects were reviewed, of which the cluster approved 73. All projects are in line with the cluster s response strategy and include emergency relief and NFIs, transitional shelter, repair and reconstruction, technical assistance for shelter construction, coordination and community clean-up kits. These projects are now being reviewed by the cluster at the global level. In accordance with the approach of the government, the shelter cluster is advocating increased focused and allocation of assistance in Sindh and Punjab provinces. In Punjab, Who, What, Where (3W) information is being compiled and will be finalized in the coming days. This information will help agencies coordinate and find appropriate partners according to existing capacity and areas of operation. The CCCM cluster has asked for support from the shelter cluster in conducting CCCM activities in Sindh. The shelter cluster is actively encouraging greater networking amongst INGOs and NGOs to distribute shelter/nfis items quickly to all districts. In all distributions organizations are encouraged to coordinate closely with the government to ensure settlements or camps are in areas/lands approved by the government. The cluster has so far distributed over 212,581 tents and 220,321 tarpaulins (323,000 households served), in addition to almost 395,000 blankets, 100,000 kitchen sets and 102,000 units of bedding/mats. Pipeline information has been reviewed in coordination with shelter cluster members. 82,173 tents and 456,682 plastic tarpaulins are reported to be in the pipeline, as well as 100,981 kitchen sets and 334,279 bedding sets and mats. For more information and daily gap analysis updates, please see: Gaps and Constraints: The needs still outstrip the available emergency shelter materials and NFIs. Punjab and Sindh have the greatest needs not yet met by distributions or pipeline goods. In Sindh, there is an urgent need for greater coordination between the shelter cluster, the camp coordination and camp management cluster and the Government of Pakistan in the formation of camps. WASH Needs: In KPK, the latest DEWS report shows a significant downward trend in acute diarrhea, while in parts of Sindh the situation continues to deteriorate. The results of the recently-completed MCRAM assessments show a relatively low demand for water, with food and shelter being much higher priorities for households. Still, a worrying amount of the water that is available is not potable and so efforts continue to improve the quality of the water provided both at the source and at the household levels. Only 42 percent of households surveyed had closed water containers, though 53 percent were practicing some form of household water treatment. Sanitation and hygiene are rapidly becoming the priority problem with just 20 percent of households surveyed having a clean toilet and 26 percent washing their hands with soap. Response: A total of 3.18 million people are now being supplied with potable water on a daily basis. Hygiene kits have been supplied to more than 920,000 people, latrines have been provided to more than 288,000 people and latrines to nearly 200,000. Hygiene promotion is also gathering pace, with more than 365,000 people reached through inter-personal hygiene messaging. Improved progress is due to both increased assistance and improved reporting by cluster partners. WASH coordination cells are established in Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and the four major field hubs. The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme is currently responsible for WASH coordination in Gilgit-Baltistan. UNICEF leads the coordination in Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. Two members of the global Rapid Response Team have been deployed from Action Contra la 6

7 Faim and OXFAM and are currently working as coordinators at the national and southern Sindh levels. Dedicated cluster coordinators are now in place in four of the six operational locations. A second full-time WASH information manager has recently arrived. A total of 74 partners are now reporting within the cluster. A google group is being established as an interim measure to improve information sharing. A total of 142 WASH projects were submitted to the cluster for inclusion in the Floods Emergency Response Plan (FERP), of which 51 were approved and are now being reviewed at the headquarters level. The WASH cluster has established strong links with the health cluster at the national level, as well as in northern Sindh. A common strategy is also being developed in conjunction with the health, nutrition, and food clusters, and teams have moved into the field to establish strong coordination between these clusters in the most at-risk districts in order to be in a position to react in an integrated manner in the event of a disease outbreak. IV. Coordination Outside Islamabad, HCCs continue to operate in Peshawar (covering KPK), Multan (covering Punjab), Sukkur (covering northern Sindh) and Hyderabad (covering southern Sindh). Coordination and information management capacity in the hubs is increasing, but still more is required. Efforts are ongoing to scale up coordination at the district level in Punjab. District level coordination structures are already up and running in KPK. In Balochistan, UNHCR has deployed field teams in Sibi, Nasirabad/Jaffarabad, Loralai/KillaSaifulla/Kohlu/Barkan and Quetta to support inter-agency coordination. Contact details of focal points in each of the coordination hubs are below. Further information on coordination is available on the response website: For details on visas-on-arrival for humanitarian workers, tax/duty free import of relief goods and obtaining No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for operations in flood-affected areas, please contact Nicki Bennett in OCHA Pakistan (contact details below). For details on security clearance for travel to restricted areas (which include all 7 FATA agencies, several flood-affected districts of Balochistan and D.G. Khan in Punjab) please contact Alexander Hasenstab in OCHA Pakistan (contact details below). V. Funding OCHA s Financial Tracking Service (FTS) reports a seven percent increase in coverage of the Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan (PIFERP) since 9 September. 74 percent of requirements have been funded (US$339.6 million out of total requirements of US$459.7 million). However, contributions for the WASH cluster continue to fall far short of what is required; just 37 percent of initial requirements have so far been covered. A revised version of the PIFERP, the Floods Emergency Response Plan (FERP) will be launched in New York on 17 September. A draft version of the plan, including proposed projects, is currently being reviewed by 7

8 agency headquarters. Given the vast scale of the disaster, the sums of money that will be requested under the FERP will be extremely large. Detailed information on funds committed and pledged so far is available on the FTS website, at: For further details on how to contribute to the PIFERP or the Emergency Response Fund for Pakistan, please contact Susan le Roux in OCHA Pakistan (contact details below). VI. Contact OCHA Pakistan: Manuel Bessler, Head of Office Maurizio Giuliano, Public Information Officer a.i Nicki Bennett, Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer Susan le Roux, External Relations and Donor Liaison Officer Fawad Hussain, Sindh Coordination Centre (contact point for northern and southern Sindh) Hussain Ullah, Punjab Coordination Centre Waheed Anwar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Coordination Centre Alexander Hasenstab, UNDSS NGO Liaison Officer UNDSS Security Information Operations Centre: OCHA Geneva Randa Hassan, Humanitarian Affairs Officer Office: Cell: OCHA New York: Ben Negus, Humanitarian Affairs Officer negus@un.org, Office: Cell: