Govt to launch rehabilitation plan for flood victims within days: Minister

• Climate Change Minister Senator Sherry Rehman said 33 million people need to be rehabilitated.
• The government launched the PDNA report on flood losses, damages, and rehabilitation requirements.
• She thanked donor agencies and international organizations for helping Pakistan in flood situation.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Friday said floods caused a lot of damage and it was an arduous task to rehabilitate 33 million people.

The federal minister was briefing the media on the findings of the Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) report launched at the Planning Ministry.

The report is a finalized document based on the joint surveys conducted by the federal government with the provinces. The report underscored trillions of rupees in cumulative damages, losses, and requirements to ensure the rehabilitation of the 33 million flood-affected people.

Senator Sherry Rehman said the federal government will also launch the rehabilitation plan in 4-5 days covering the key aspects of revival efforts to ensure sustainable relocation of the affected communities.

She said Pakistan is grateful to all the organizations that have helped with the floods and plan to effectively deal with such incident.

“There are resources for the developed nations to go on wars but not for saving human lives as their response is slow in the case of Pakistan and other natural calamity-stricken nations.”

The minister added that some 90 districts remained calamity-hit and it was revealed after the joint survey results which were partnered by World Bank, other donor agencies and development partners. The provinces also gave their input and recommendations in the PDNA, she added.

She said the fact sheet clearly stated that one out of seven Pakistanis were affected due to the recent monster floods whereas four million children were out of health services.

“We are going to enter the recovery and rehabilitation phase, and as per the PDNA the combined total losses accounted of Rs3.3 trillion, damages of Rs3.2 trillion and needs of Rs3.4 trillion. All ministries and provinces worked with the development partners to collate the date and compile these figures.”

She said further planning would have to be made keeping in view the risk of future hazards as 5.5 million in households having children below five not immunized, 1.5 million households having no water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, and 2.8 million households did not get postnatal treatment.

She noted that the two lakes formed in the flood-affected region primarily Sindh and Balochistan could not lose water as the water was not receding due to the terrain and topography of the region.

“The destruction caused by the massive torrential rain floods is high and the resources are limited to support the impacted communities.”

She said the opposition was dragging the country towards a bleak direction as their fake narrative had cast serious impacts on the society that also gained huge media coverage.

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