MAGNITUDE OF THE FLOODS

The current crisis in Pakistan is acknowledged by the world, to be the largest of its kind and there are no doubts that this effort requires collaborative action from us all. The devastation that the floods have caused to the country of Pakistan is truly unimaginable. Millions of people have been displaced and left destitute and helpless. It is true to say that Pakistan has now become a nation with desperate and helpless people, who feel that they have been stranded and abandoned by the world.

There has been much debate regarding the mishandling of this disaster by the government, but one must remember, the response time and performance of the U.S government to mobilize its emergency services for Hurricane Katrina.

Pakistan is a nation truly shaken to its roots by this devastating and tragic natural disaster and really needs humanitarian help from its brothers and sisters around the world. It should not be left to recover slowly in an adhoc manner, left to its own resources, because the potential risk and vulnerability that this could bring will impact the safety and security of the whole world.

The situation is unimaginable, but I believe the worst is yet to come which is the spread of disease from the decaying carcasses. The devastation of over 20 thousand Sq/Km of crops all across the country will take decades to address and possibly cause a major food crisis for 2011.

It is very clear for me to conclude that, the ground reality demonstrates that, once again Pakistan army and the private citizens have taken the lead to support the nation by providing the feet on the ground for the logistical support and basic food supplies to save the lives of their fellow countrymen.

RELIEF OPERATIONS

My visit to Pakistan began by visiting Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) which is leading the flood relief efforts all across Pakistan. NDMA is headed by Rtd. Lt Gen. Nadeem, who has had firsthand experience of disaster management from the earthquake of 2005, where he was working very closely with Gen. Farooq Khan (DMC). He is operating with full transparency across multiple agencies, provinces and relief organisations. His excellent leadership, strategic, operational and tactical thinking is clearly visible all the way. He has setup his command and control centre in the situation room. This room is dominated by the map of Pakistan, which is continuously indicating the status of supplies and relief aid along with demonstrating the moving swells of the rivers, as the floods travel south, leaving massive devastation of life, live stock, crops, homes and wiping out complete infrastructures.

Pakistan Government Flood Relief Authority, NDMA

The US military; army, navy and marines are actively engaged in close partnership with Pakistani officers, working as a united team, fighting to save the lives of the Pakistani people in very difficult conditions. It is truly commendable how private citizens, relief workers, donor agencies, NGOs, government and the military personnel are bearing these terrible conditions to help the poor, suffering people of Pakistan.

US support in Pakistan flood relief activities

In fact, Pakistan’s National Airline, PIA is shipping cargo, free of cost to support the relief efforts both in Pakistan and internationally. These goods simply need to state “for the flood relief effort, NDMA” and they will enter the distribution system.

Furthermore, private organizations are playing a key role in relief work. Telenor Pakistan have a made a commitment to support the relief work by quadrupling the amount of money donated by their employees. The employees are volunteering to go to the affected areas in the weekend, where they conduct a detailed need’s assessment on Saturday and subsequently supply and distribute the required items on Sunday. Similarly, e Worldwide Group is working closely with NDMA and collaborating with NGOs like Muslim Hands and Thali (local NGO) to support the relief effort.

SUPPORT STRUCTURE

To manage the relief effort NDMA’s support structure is built on the full engagement and coordination with 8 key stakeholders that represent every sector;

1. UN / Donors	5. Army Relief Operations (Labaik)
2. UNIO’s	6. IFI (World Bank and ADB)
3. The Provinces	7. PHF (Pakistan Humanitarian Forum)
4. Federal Ministries	8. NHN (National Humanitarian Network)

Additionally, coordinators from the World Food programme (WFP) are permanently based at the forward air bases closely working with the army to coordinate the distribution of the special food packs and high energy biscuits, which provide immediate nutrition.

Requirments briefing by WFP coordinator

To operationalize this, NDMA has created a triage, working with the military, government and the relief agencies. The mechanism allows for civil society to engage through 4 main channels to push the relief aid through whichever organisation they feel comfortable with: Red Crescent, UN System, Provincial Rescue Lines and NDMA Channels. Additionally, Gen. Nadeem mentioned two other organizations that are also actively working in Pakistan that people could partner with to support the relief work. This will allow the coordination to be managed effectively; since they also feed the goods into the above 4 distribution channels;

1. Pakistan Humanitarian Forum - PHF (OXFAM) (OGB), IRC etc.
2. National Humanitarian Network - PHN (NGOs)

COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION

To maintain efficiency with the distribution mechanism, coordination and communication is key because there are limited supplies. Therefore, Gen. Nadeem has set up multiple briefings everyday at NDMA with all the stakeholders:

Gen. Nadeem Chairman National Disaster Management Authority Pakistan giving briefing on current situation of destruction and relief activities - Part-1 (Part-2) (Part-3) (Part-4)

This is a continuous process of open communication, where information is shared on the current status of events; starting with briefing from PDMAs, National Highway Authority (NHA), Pakistan Railways, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Petroleum and Army Field special Operation – Labaik.

Situation room to monitor flood relief activities in Pakistan - Part-1 (Part-2)

In parallel to this, there are daily multi-stakeholder cluster focused sessions with stakeholders examining the status and plan of attack for shelter, food and health. NDMA has dedicated coordinators for each of these clusters that also provide detailed briefings and latest status reports. This level of communication is necessary to ensure that the relief goods are distributed to the appropriate areas using the most effective transportation methods, since every second is critical. As of 2nd September, 79 districts are affected by floods and 34 districts remain under water. Therefore, it is critical that accurate and efficient communication is in place. Therefore, NDMA operates directly with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMAs) who directly coordinate the relief work within a given province and work very closely with the DCOs

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RELIEF AND AID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

NDMA has carefully designed an effective distribution network that is continuously adjusting based on the conditions on the ground to avoid any duplication and highlighting gaps. The main hub for all of the international aid is the Chaklala air base, which is directly next to the Islamabad International airport.

NDMA have setup a series of forward bases, to act as hubs to store and distribute the relief goods across the affected areas. These hubs were initially setup at Peshawar (Pakhtoonkhwa) and Multan (Punjab) but as the floods travelled south they are now at Sukkur (Sindh) and Sibi (Baluchistan) and 2 new bases have been created at Hyderabad (Sindh) and Quetta (Baluchistan) as the devastating floods continue to flow south. As of today a 3rd is being setup at Pano Aqil. To maintain efficiency with the distribution mechanism and to ensure that the critical necessary relief aid and medical supplies are reaching the flooded areas and the victims, Gen. Nadeem has emphasized the need to work with the area DCOs, so that the exact activities and relief aid reaches the right location and people.

Relief aid storage and distribution
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RISKS

Due to the landscape of Pakistan, different locations have different needs. Even though the Swat valley and Kalam valley are isolated and disconnected the only way to provide aid is through helicopters, which are themselves very sensitive to weather.

Pakistan flood relief camp at Kalam, Swat and Rubicon

One must recognize that these areas are blessed with hundreds of natural springs, so pure and clean drinking water is naturally available. However, they disparately lack food supplies and basic practical living utensils, along with fresh vegetables which they naturally crave, since it was a part of their natural daily diet and has now been washed away. Nonetheless, what I have observed is that people have unknowingly shipped hundreds of boxes of drinking water to the Ghazi air base and water purification systems, which now have to be redistributed to other location, where they are needed.

Flood relief Pakistan supplies disconnect

Therefore, care needs to be taken to provide the right things to the right locations, keeping in mind the local context, environment and sensitivity of the people. The most vulnerable; the elderly, women and children are at risk of being marginalized due to their frail physical condition.

Furthermore, as a woman, I must draw your attention to the fact that, there are over 500,000 pregnant women in the camps. But we don’t know where they are and when their babies are due and what is their general health condition. Despite these horrendous circumstances life continues its journey and a new baby is born in a relief camp in Nowshera.

Pakistan flood affected pregnant women and babies

Furthermore, there are even greater risks causing a threat to lives everyday; contagious diseases and water born diseases caused by the contaminated stagnant water: diarrhea, gastro, infections and malaria to name a few that need to be continuously monitored and contained.

VULNERABILITIES

As in all large scale disaster management projects of this nature, accurate and timely information is critical for saving lives. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges at the moment is information management and information sharing across the multiple stakeholders.

We have advised NDMA and WHO that we urgently need to map the locations of these communities within the camps, so that appropriate data can be collected and subsequently the appropriate medical supplies and food can be provided.

Furthermore, we have also suggested that the mobile phone be immediately used as a data transfer vehicle to keep track of the inventory and supplies that are being delivered to various locations by multiple organizations so that we can avoid an imbalance of goods in a particular area. This process needs to be simple and easy to use but standardized and brought in by all of the stakeholders and agencies, engaged in the relief effort. This is the only way I can see to avoid chaos. This will also provide a vehicle for transparency and accountability which is much needed.

IMMEDIATE RELIEF NEEDS AND GAPS IN SUPPLIES

Chairman NDMA identified 5 specific areas that were immediately needed to support the relief efforts on the ground;

Priority Requirements

1.     Shelter – Tents etc 2.     Food - special foods supplies;         -  Children         -  Lactating Mothers         -  Pregnant Women 3.     Health         -  Medical supplies for;            o    Respiratory infection            o    Malaria            o    Diarrhea             o    All types of skin diseases            o    Pregnant women

4.     Water and Sanitation         -  Lavatories         -  Portable potties         -  Dewatering pumps         -  Clean drinking water         -  Filtration plants         -  Water purification tablets 5.     Logistics         -  Helicopters ;            o    CH53S            o    MI17S         -  Boats (min 40 HP)

Pakistan flood shortage of medicines and tents
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Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, logistics and distribution still remain the primary roadblock. There is a short supply of helicopters in Pakistan.

They currently have only 77 helicopters; including from the US (15), Afghanistan (4), UAE (3) but in contrast none have been received from the UK. USA has further committed to provide 15 more helicopters.

Furthermore, because of the limitations on the bases on ground and the terrains in which they fly, there is a need for CH53S or MI17S or Equivalent Helicopters, which I am sure that any government should be able to provide either from EU and ME in a matter of days, so why is the delay?

There is also a need for as many boats as possible that have an engine capacity of minimum of 40 HP; otherwise it is not possible for them to navigate through the strong currents and effectively shuttle people to safety

EARLY RECOVERY

As the waters have now receded in northern areas, people are moving back home and accordingly trying to rebuild entire villages and towns and therefore, have a completely different set of needs. General Nadeem mentioned 5 key needs for the early recovery process; farm based livelihood, transitional shelters, temporary structure i.e. prefabricated schools and hospitals, community infrastructure and rebuilding governance structures in the local government to help ensure distribution of aid and rebuild records.

Looking at the dilemma with the destroyed infrastructure and the huge trust deficit with the government authorities, the only way I can see, out of this predicament is for private citizens, NGOs and donors to adopt an entire community or village, working closely together selecting various elements that are required to rebuild the basic necessities in the destroyed villages. This requires effective project management and open communication and coordination across all parties, and more importantly continuously assessing and engaging with people on the ground, such as this doctor, identifying his short supply medicines. The result of this activity will not only provide a vehicle to build trust but also provide a tool to monitor the billions of rupees flowing into Pakistan.

MEDIA AND AWARENESS

Lastly, the international and local media has to play a critical role by constantly monitoring and testing for real transformation on the ground and highlighting any exclusions of the vulnerable. An example of this is my collaboration with James Caan to assist the UK ITV crew to get the first hand experience of what was going on in Pakistan.

Salma Abbasi and James Caan’s visit to flood affected areas

Partnership with the media will enable us to provide continuous awareness globally of the issues and holistic needs in a transparent manner, thus helping the victims rebuilding their lives.

Pakistan Flood Relief Press Conference Lord Nazir, Lord Sarwar and Salma Abbasi in Pakistan
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