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3955

Monsoon rains and flood continues to create havoc in different parts of the flood affected areas leaving thousands of families affected, number of houses destroyed, thousands of acres of ready to harvest crops and fruits orchards have been damaged, link roads and bridges destroyed. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Director General Dr Ghulam Rasul has issued high alert in the wake of expected widespread heavy rain and flood, over the next five days.

The PMD spokesperson added that the heavy monsoon was concentrating in Sindh where up to 500,000 cusecs of water was already flowing down the Indus at Guddu and Sukkur and the upcoming heavy downpour could aggravate the situation. According to the PMD the entire country is currently under an active monsoon system which might generate heavy widespread rains in coming days. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) also alerted that a sharp peak of High Flood is expected in River Jhelum at Mangla (upstream).

Following is a brief overview of impact of recent flash floods on different provinces of Pakistan so far:

Sindh: Around 150 villages have been flooded in district Ghotki, Kashmore and Sukkur which affected around 1000,000 people. The continuous driving rains incited rivers to wreak havoc and forced the citizens to shift to safer locations along with their livestock. Along with the three already affected districts, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Sindh has forecasted that districts Khairpur, Larkana and Shikarpur are also at high risk of flooding in the coming two to three days which can affect thousands of families in these vulnerable districts. Anticipating displacement from these districts the district governments have established relief camps, health camps and livestock facilities at various embankments.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Around 300,000 people in upper and lower Chitral are affected by flash floods. Twenty-six villages are affected in the district, where 145 houses were destroyed and 32 partially damaged. The roads linking Chitral with Drosh, Orghoch, Garam Chashma, Bamboret, Mastuj and Boni are destroyed. Dozens of other link roads, major bridges and the suspension bridges connecting valleys and villages have been swept away in the gushing waters. A hotel, a private college and around 25 water supply schemes have also been swept away. Search and rescue operations are currently underway by Pakistan Army. Relief camps have been established in the affected areas while Government has announced PKR 500,000 for each of the completely affected households. Furthermore PRCS has distributed tents, kitchen sets, hygiene kits, Mosquito nets and blankets to 29 flood affected families. KP government has transported 20 tons of food packs to district Chitral.

Gilgit-Baltistan: Flash floods have cut off at least three valleys in Diamer and Baltistan. The valleys in Diamer – including Niat, Buner and Fairy Meadows – have been experiencing food shortages because of lack of connection with the outside world. Ghanche and Skardu are the worst affected districts of GB. Fast melting glaciers in the northern areas of the country during monsoon season and the resultant flash floods is a wake-up call for the K-P and G-B governments to start planning to tackle the situation.

Punjab: At least 244 villages of Mianwali, Layyah, DG Khan, Rajanpur, Rahimyarkhan and Muzaffargarh districts are inundated by the flood water of Sindh River. According to NDMA, 11 villages in Mianwali, 81 in Layyah, 40 in DG Khan, 14 in Muzaffargarh, 82 in Rajanpur and 16 villages in Rahimyar khan are affected by the flood. Crop fields spread on thousands of acres have been destroyed, while more than 100 families have moved to safer areas on their own due to insufficient arrangements made by the district and tehsil governments. A large number of people are stranded in the flooded localities. The urban localities which are on the bank of Lai Nallah in district Rawalpindi have also been flooded while due to the rain related incidents in the district, a girl has died during the last 24 hours. Government has established 120 relief camps in six districts of the province. Each camp will accommodate 500 people. 6,000 tents and 10,000 food packs are distributed so far.

Baluchistan: Heavy rainfall, windstorm and the flood situation in District Zhob has damaged flood protection bunds, electric poles, roads, uprooting trees, etc. Also caused breaches at various locations to the protection bunds claiming four lives so far. In central province, at least twenty-one people drowned in the flood water where only seven dead bodies recovered while search and rescue operation is underway for the recovery of the rest of the drowned people.

Response by Community World Service Asia:

Sindh being the tail-ender has always been the most affected province and is likely to be among the most affected by recent rains and flooding in the coming couple of days. Community World Service Asia has operational offices and teams in Sindh. Its senior management team, including Regional Representative and Associate Director for Emergencies is on the ground monitoring the situation and will be leading the emergency response. The field team is coordinating with key stake holders to plan to address emergency needs of the population by providing food, NFIs and emergency medical assistance in affected districts.

Contacts:

Allan A. Calma
Deputy Director
Disaster Management Program
Email: allan.calma@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 301 5801621

Muhammad Fazal
Associate Director
Emergencies/DRR/Climate Change
Email: fazil.sardar@communitryworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 332 5586134

Palwashay Arbab
Senior Communications Officer
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 42 3586 5338

Sources:
www.tribune.com.pk
www.e.dunya.com.pk
National Humanitarian Network
www.ndma.gov.pk
weather.par.com.pk

3085

Torrential rains have created havoc in different parts of the country making life miserable for the residents of the affected areas. District Chitral is on top of the list of the worst affected districts where Infrastructure has been the worst-hit and the upper areas of the district have virtually been cut off from the rest of Chitral, leaving as many as 200,000 people stranded.

Kyber Pakhtunkhwa: Initial assessment has revealed massive damages, while officials have reason to believe that the actual situation could be much worse.

The PDMA said the available machinery and manpower had already been deployed for temporary opening of routes to restore communication.

Around 40 connecting bridges and more than 200 smaller bridges have been washed away. An estimated 175 houses were completely destroyed while over 200 others were partially damaged.

Three towns of Latkoh tehsil – Garam Chashma, Arkari and Karimabad – have been inaccessible for the past six days.

Electricity and water supply systems have also been destroyed, while a shortage of edible items has also been reported.

Standing maize and vegetable crops, and the villagers’ cattle and other belongings were swept away, but no loss of life was reported there. However, a girl was killed in the Bakarabad area of Jamrud in Khyber Agency when the roof of a house collapsed because of the heavy downpour.

Punjab: Around 100 villages have been flooded in district layyah, while due to high level flooding in Indus river, thousands acres of crop has been destroyed in district Rajanpur and adjacent areas. The affected people are compelled to evacuate the area and to move to safer places.

Balochistan: Three children were killed and more than a dozen people injured in rain-related incidents in the northern parts of Balochistan, where torrential rains played havoc and disrupted road communication. The protection wall of Sherani was washed away by hill torrents as well, flooding the residential township and the nearby villages. A bridge linking Zhob and Sherani also collapsed, suspending road communication. Heavy rains were also reported in Ziarat, as the downstream in Sibi Valley of the plains was inundated.

Sindh: At least 10 people drowned while swimming or accidentally falling into waterways in separate incidents. The flood water is expected to reach Sindh districts and affect the low lying areas on the bank of the rivers in the next few days.

The PMD has issued a red alert for flash flooding in local nullahs and streams of Punjab, upper K-P, eastern Balochistan and Kashmir for the next three days.

The Met Office has warned the local authorities to take preventive measures to avoid any kind of human or property loss.

PMD meteorologist Muzammil Hussain said the second spell of monsoon would continue across the country until July 30, with weak to moderate showers with short intervals.

He said hot and humid weather would persist across the country, adding that the humidity level had reached 70 per cent.

Community World Service Asia is currently monitoring the situation and will respond if the emergency assistance is required.

Contacts:

Allan A. Calma
Deputy Director
Disaster Management Program
Email: allan.calma@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 301 5801621

Muhammad Fazal
Associate Director
Emergencies/DRR/Climate Change
Email: fazil.sardar@communitryworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 332 5586134

Palwashay Arbab
Senior Communications Officer
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Ph: +92 42 3586 5338

Sources:
www.tribune.com.pk
www.express.com.pk

2942

Community World Service Asia’s Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) center, funded by Church World Service Global and the Church of Scotland, serves a local population of approximately 20,500 in Union Council Bijora, Thatta, in the Sindh province. The remote, rural area is affected by a lack of health infrastructure and services. A lack of female doctors and health practitioners, as well as cultural norms which pose barriers to women travelling, mean that women are particularly under-served and that their health issues remain a serious problem.

The MNCH center provides easily accessible and affordable health care to the local community, which not only enables women to avail vital services, but alleviates the financial burden of expensive travel to the nearest hospital, which can cost families around Rs. 1,000 (USD 10). A key component of the project is community mobilization, which promotes the engagement and ownership of community members. Through the formation of male and female Health Management Committees (HMCs), we are able to build trusting relationships with communities, which are essential to effectively address key health issues. The HMC members conduct basic level awareness raising sessions on hygiene practices, common and seasonal diseases such as malaria, and family planning.

The HMCs also play a vital role in sharing information among men and women in the community regarding the health services available at the MNCH, including more in-depth awareness-raising sessions. In addition, HMCs provide transport to patients in emergency situations, identify current health issues and report them to the project team, as well as supporting the team with the management of medicine stocks. This participation is essential to Community World Service Asia’s vision of empowered communities. HMC members demonstrated their strong sense of local ownership by sharing their hopes for the MNCH center in ten years’ time: a “first class” facility for the community.

5053

A wide gender gap exists across Pakistan, with women able to access fewer opportunities for participation in education, employment and social and political life. Nationally, only 45% of women are literate, compared to 69% of men[1]. There is also a strong disparity between urban and rural areas, 71.1% of those who live in cities or towns able to read and write, and only 46.3% of those who live in more remote settings[2].

Women in rural areas are therefore particularly marginalized, and are affected by a variety of factors which limit their access to education. There are few schools, a lack of female teachers, insufficient sanitation facilities at schools, and often long and unsecure journeys between home and the classroom. This further compounds the general issues of insufficient resources, untrained and unqualified teachers, out-of-date textbooks and poverty, which present obstacles to girls and boys alike.

Community World Service Asia is committed to empowering rural women through education and income generation. Through our women’s empowerment project in Thatta, Sindh, funded by Christian Aid, women receive training to develop their skills in traditional embroidery, appliqué and other crafts. The project also supports these women to develop sustainable linkages to local and high-end markets, and education on sexual and reproductive health. A key component of the intervention is the introduction of adult literacy classes, through which participating women receive education in basic reading, writing and mathematical skills.

The second adult literacy center was opened in Ghulam Muhammad Soorjo village, Thatta, on 1st July, with fifty women enrolled. The new students eagerly shared their motivation for undertaking the classes, with reasons including being able to read the expiration dates on medicines, verifying their national identity cards, and registering to vote.

[1] Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement survey (PSLM) 2008-09-Most recent government figures available.

[2] UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2011

 

2480

Community World Service Asia, with the financial support of Christian Aid, has been working with flood-prone and affected communities in Thatta, Sindh since 2010. Along with utilizing our innovative Mobile Knowledge Resource Center to conduct interactive training workshops to support community members, teachers and students to become disaster resilient, we promote community ownership of disaster risk reduction initiatives through the formation of local level disaster management committees. These committees are essential to the active participation of communities in preparedness and mobilization in the event of a disaster, as well as building sustainability of the intervention. The committees carry out assessments of local risks and capacity to respond, as well as producing hazard maps and conducting evacuation drills.

On June 15th, members of the disaster management committee in Union Council Bijora, Thatta participated in an exposure visit to a neighboring village, Ali Muhammat Jat, to share their experiences of working to build community resilience to natural disasters.   The visit was an opportunity for both communities to identify good practices and areas in which they can learn from one another. The participants shared the importance of engaging and coordinating with community members in order to successfully identify needs and priorities, and effectively sensitize communities to important practices such as education and disaster preparedness. The committee in Ali Muhammad Jat, supported by Islamic Relief Pakistan, also shared their initiative of monitoring local news alerts to develop their own early warning system, which the committee members from UC Bijora found particularly interesting and useful.

Exposure visits like these enable the communities with whom we work to develop links with other groups, learn from them, and adapt relevant initiatives to strengthen their own practices. This also helps the committees which we establish in becoming self-sustaining and durable in the long-term.

2338

The death toll of the heatwave affected individuals has risen to 1400 with more than 40,000 people suffering from heat exhaustion and strokes according to UNOCHA’s latest report. To respond to this growing crisis Community World Service Asia initiated an emergency heatwave response. In collaboration with its partners, Participatory Village Development Program (PVDP), Transformation and Reflection for Rural Development (TRD) and Society for Safe Environment and Welfare of Agrarians in Pakistan (SSEWA Pak) the response has completed its first week.

Heatwave rehabilitation centers in three different districts; Dadu, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar of Sindh have been established and are running successfully. A number of consultation meetings were conducted with the government health departments in order to set up these relief centers.

Free medical consultations and medicines have been provided to 215 patients from the affected population under this response so far. Of the treated patients, 104 are men, 61 are women and 50 are children. Awareness raising activities on heatstroke orientation, its symptoms, treatment and prevention are also being conducted for the public sector paramedic staff and the visiting patients. The community members have been actively participating in these awareness sessions and the attendance is seen to have increased by the day.

As per the project plan, awareness sessions on building resiliency towards extreme weather are to be extended to village levels. Mobile health teams will conduct these sessions with the communities in other villages as well. Awareness about heatstroke prevention and extreme weather precautions will also be disseminated through text messages and interactive theaters.

Some of the affected areas in Sindh received its first surge of rain after a long drought last week but the showers were minimal. Thus, the drought and extreme heat spell is expected to continue in this part of the country. Medical specialists have started warning government departments about the possible spread of gastroenteritis amongst the affected communities in the coming days.

2579

The heatwave that hit Pakistan during the last three days has led to an unprecedented increase in morbidity and deaths among the underprivileged populations of Sindh.

Since Saturday June 20th, the extreme hot spell in Karachi and other areas of Southern Pakistan have led to a death toll of 530 people which is expected to escalate further with the rise in temperature as per reports by the three leading English Daily Newspapers (Dawn, The News & Express Tribune). The Daily Express has however reported the death toll to have reached a 1000 people. Hundreds of affected populations have been hospitalized for sun-strokes and other heat related complications. Many are still awaiting emergency health assistance in the far-flung areas of interior Sind and Southern Punjab.

The temperature in Southern Pakistan has been recorded at a constant high continuum, ranging from 43 degree Celsius (in Karachi) to 49 degree Celsius in Jacobabad. As per environmental experts, the country’s heat index has risen because of poor environmental conditions since the past couple of decades. This intense heat wave is affecting the destitute populations more because of the extended electricity breakdowns they face and the unavailability of drinkable water. Fasting in the holy month of Ramadan by many people in these areas may have also contributed to the growing crisis.

Contacts:
Allan A. Calma
Deputy Director
Disaster Management Program
Email: allan.calma@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 301 5801621

Muhammad Fazal
Associate Director
Emergencies/DRR/Climate Change
Email: fazil.sardar@communitryworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 332 5586134

Palwashay Arbab
Senior Communications Officer
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 42 3586 5338

Sources:
www.dawn.com
www.pmd.gov.pk
http://arynews.tv/en/mercury-still-at-38-degrees-in-karachi
http://www.geo.tv/article-188842-Blistering-heat-devours-572-people-in-Pakistan-in-just-2-days

2738

In celebration of Global Earth Day, Community world Service Asia had organized tree-plantation activities in villages in Thatta, Sindh, with the communities it works with.

Cultural Activities on promoting environmental responsibility were conducted while the plantations were ongoing. Communities were also made aware of how these tree plantations help in disaster mitigation. Many children in the Phul Jhakro village took part in these planting activities. The communities understood the importance of such activities towards the protection of the planet and realized that the global community needs to stand together in doing so.

Community World Service Asia also collaborated with a boys’ school in Ahund Baradia, Thatta to organize activities on Global Earth Day on April 22nd. Students took part in a group activity divided under different topics such as “importance of plantation”, “flaws of deforestation” and “how to protect the earth” to showcase their understanding on the concerns. They also exhibited the safe village models that they had made to show the various DRR activities they have learnt through Community World Service Asia’s workshops. The model also displayed how the earth is made safer through tree plantation.

The main purpose of conducting these activities was to create awareness at different levels on environmental degradation and the benefits of tree plantation and how both of these impact climate change.

2875

The persistence of clouds in the Arabian Sea shows an area of convection with the potential of developing a cyclonic circulation. The sea surface temperatures and the upper air analysis also point towards the development of a deep low pressure area. The numerical models are continuously indicating such cyclonic activity in the Arabian Sea 1,600 km south of the Pakistan coast in the next couple of days.

The Cyclone Warning Centre (Karachi) of Pakistan Meteorological Department is monitoring the local and regional meteorological conditions regularly. A weather advisory will be issued in the next 24 hours should any cyclonic activity occur. All stakeholders and concerned authorities are advised to keep abreast of the latest updates and the weather advisories of The Pakistan Meteorological Department in the coming days.

According to an alert issued by Met Office, the storm will be named Ashubha if it develops into a full-blown cyclone.

Contacts:
Allan A. Calma
Deputy Director
Disaster Management Program
allan.calma@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 301 5801621

Muhammad Fazal
Associate Director
Emergencies/DRR/Climate Change
fazil.sardar@communityworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 332 5586134

Palwashay Arbab
Senior Communications Officer
palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Ph: +92 42 3586 5338

Sources:
www.pmd.gov.pk
www.samaa.tv

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