ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The estimated figure of over US$ 300 billion losses caused by the recent devastating floods in Pakistan is believed to be grossly flawed since the existing government didn’t have the district-wise data of the affected population.
It was revealed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Director (Operations) Brigadier Muhammad Umar in a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue held on Wednesday.
Headed by Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, the Committee took stock of all the relief and rehabilitation effort in the flood-affected areas.
The Committee proceedings revealed that as the winter sets in, the absence of the data has left hundreds of thousands of people without basic needs such as blankets and tents, leaving them at the mercy of fast approaching harsh weather, the Express Tribune reported.
When Dr. Nafisa Shah inquired from Brigadier Muhammad Umar whether he knew how many people were affected in Sindh’s Khairpur district, he replied “I do not have the data of the affected people.”
Dr. Nafisa Shah said that between 100,000 to 150,000 people had been affected by the floods in the Khairpur district; however, since there was no town and district-level data available with the NDMA, thousands of people in her Constituency had been left at the mercy of harsh weather and in search of warm shelter and clothes to avoid being exposed to cold.
The revelations also put a question mark on the government’s claims of providing relief to the people and the utility of the PDNA report that has been prepared by the World Bank with the collaboration of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the United Nations Development Programme and the European Union.
The report has estimated the cost of damages and losses at $30.2 billion and worked out the reconstruction cost at $16.3 billion. But it does not provide the details of the 33 million flood-affected people that the government and the PDNA reports have claimed.
Updated on 18/11/2022
