tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post6383677593203774629..comments2024-03-27T15:36:44.737-07:00Comments on Haq's Musings: Angelina Jolie Using Her Star Power to Help Pakistan Flood VictimsRiaz Haqhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comBlogger61125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-38768305108822453292023-08-05T17:36:20.358-07:002023-08-05T17:36:20.358-07:00Pakistan aims to export 5 million tonnes of rice a...Pakistan aims to export 5 million tonnes of rice amid India ban<br /><br />https://www.geo.tv/latest/502787-pakistan-aims-to-export-5-million-tonnes-of-rice-amid-india-ban<br /><br /><br />The REAP chief was optimistic about Pakistan achieving its goal of 5 million tonnes of rice worth $3 billion in the current fiscal year, which began in July.<br /><br />---------------<br /><br />"Pakistan expected a bumper rice crop this year," REAP chief says.<br />Country exported 3.7m tonnes rice valued at $2.14b last fiscal year.<br />This year, Kewlani says, Pakistan can export 5m tonnes of rice.<br /><br />KARACHI: Pakistan's rice exports are projected to rise in the current fiscal year due to the Indian ban on rice exports and the exploration of new markets in Russia and Mexico, the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) said, according to The News.<br /><br />REAP Chairman Chela Ram Kewlani said Pakistan exported 3.7 million tonnes of rice valued at $2.14 billion in the previous fiscal year, despite facing various challenges.<br /><br />"Despite devastating floods, crop shortage and many other challenges, we exported 3.7 million tonnes amounting to $2.14 billion," he said.<br /><br />The REAP chief was optimistic about Pakistan achieving its goal of 5 million tonnes of rice worth $3 billion in the current fiscal year, which began in July.<br /><br />"India's ban on rice exports will have significant impacts on global rice trade dynamics. This will give a good opportunity for Pakistan to fill the supply gap and expand its market share in major rice-buying countries."<br /><br />India, the world's biggest rice exporter, banned exports of non-basmati rice last month to ensure domestic supplies amid rising food inflation. Kewlani said Pakistan could benefit from higher export volumes and increased revenues as a result of the ban.<br /><br />"Overall, the ban may create a favorable trade environment for Pakistan's rice exports." Industry officials said Pakistan's basmati rice prices soared to $500 per tonnes in the international market, up almost $100 from a month ago, as demand surged after the export ban by India.<br /><br />Pakistani rice is enjoying a premium for its superior quality and could rise further to $600 per tonnes in the coming months, one trader said. "Pakistan has a golden opportunity to boost its rice exports and earn valuable foreign exchange as India has banned its rice exports due to drought." he said.<br /><br />Pakistan is the world's fourth-largest rice exporter after India, Thailand, and Vietnam. Kewlani said Pakistani non-basmati rice, which was selling at $450 per tonnes before the ban, had also jumped to $500 per tonnes as buyers shifted to alternative sources.<br /><br />He also said that Russia had registered 15 more Pakistani companies to export rice to the country and 12 more were in the process of registration. "This opportunity will also be beneficial for generation of extra foreign exchange for our country, as Russia is a big and potential market for Pakistani rice."<br /><br />Kewlani added that a recent visit by Mexican technical experts had gone well and they were satisfied with the compliance of standard operating procedures by Pakistani rice exporters. He hoped that Mexico would soon lift a ban on Pakistani rice and resume imports.<br /><br />He said Pakistan expected a bumper rice crop this year, with an annual output of around 9 million tonnes. "We hope that we can easily achieve our target of 5 million tonnes worth $3 billion this year."<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-51666370663556821902023-07-17T10:33:03.201-07:002023-07-17T10:33:03.201-07:00After the floods, the future looks bright: truck a...After the floods, the future looks bright: truck art in Pakistan – a photo essay<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/17/after-the-floods-the-future-looks-bright-truck-art-in-pakistan-a-photo-essay<br /><br /><br />Arslan, whose family are still living in a tent after their home was destroyed in the floods, is studying in a temporary school set up by Save the Children.<br /><br />“I remember my first day at the tent school. I was so happy, I felt as if my dream of becoming a police officer was still possible. When it felt like we would not receive an education, I thought I would lose that and I would have to do manual labour to earn a living like most of the people in the village.”<br /><br /><br />When Lakshmi, 35, returned to her village six months after the floods, she found it in ruins – homes had been destroyed, crops gone and livestock killed. But she says the tragedy formed new bonds between people.<br /><br />“Everyone was so devastated by loss that the distinctions were erased,” says Lakshmi, who lives with her husband and seven children. “Whether you were Hindu or Muslim, it didn’t matter. We forgot all the things that separated us or made us different and we had to come together as a community to take care of ourselves. We had all lost everything – that was the common factor.”<br /><br /><br />Sultana says her house was “inundated with water” that stayed for about four months. “The water was as high as my knees and it was everywhere. We were afraid to go out on to the roads to seek shelter because there was so much water surrounding us,” she says.<br /><br />She worries how much damage could occur during this year’s rainy season, which has already killed more than 50 people.<br /><br />Sultana’s daughter, Arya Fatima, 10, had to be taken to a clinic after she contracted malaria from the mosquitoes that bred in the stagnant water surrounding their home. She also became malnourished. “I vividly remember carrying her in my arms into the clinic. She was not conscious, and I feared for her life,” says Sultana.<br /><br /><br />Arya Fatima recovered and Anchan says he remembers the excitement and joy on her face when she saw her portrait on the van.<br /><br />“She was excited, but also the whole village was excited. She was a celebrity on that day because everyone, all the other girls, were congratulating her,” he says. “She was still recovering from malaria, but after everyone saw her, she felt better.”<br /><br />Painting the van was a “brilliant idea”, says Anchan, “because the villagers in the affected areas are suffering a lot of things. But when we parked the truck up, the villagers celebrated and were all so excited.<br /><br />“Everyone came to see the truck to see if they could recognise who has been painted, if they knew someone.”<br /><br />Anchan says the project has changed his life. “I’ve decided I want to do more social projects after this. Sometimes projects change your thinking. I saw this devastation my own people suffered and I decided I can do more, not just through painting and art, but through any type of voluntary work.”<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-49200807492654941062023-07-17T10:31:49.789-07:002023-07-17T10:31:49.789-07:00After the floods, the future looks bright: truck a...After the floods, the future looks bright: truck art in Pakistan – a photo essay<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/17/after-the-floods-the-future-looks-bright-truck-art-in-pakistan-a-photo-essay<br /><br /><br />Ali Salman Anchan and his team of artists travelled to meet some of the people affected by last year’s devastating monsoon rains in Sindh province. They set to work covering an aid truck with vibrant images to share people’s stories of resilience and recovery<br /><br />by Sanam Maher in Sindh and Liz Ford. Photographs by Zoral Khurram Naik<br /><br />Pakistan artist Ali Salman Anchan has received commissions from across the world. His “truck art” – known as Phool Patti in Urdu – appears in buildings in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia. Most recently, his vibrant designs have brightened up the Pakistan embassy in Beijing.<br /><br />But it was a commission to paint a van used to transport medical supplies after last year’s devastating floods in his home country that has been the most fulfilling, he says, adding: “It was an honour to be part of this project.”<br /><br /><br />Truck art dates back to the 1920s, when Bedford trucks imported from the UK were embellished with colourful floral patterns and landscapes, animals and birds. Over the years, the indigenous art form has become a method of storytelling, used to share messages or celebrate moments and milestones. The designs, often painted by hand and largely by self-taught artists, can be seen on vehicles across the country, including tuk-tuks and buses.<br /><br />In January, Anchan was asked by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella group of UK charities that coordinates funding appeals, to tell the stories of some of the survivors of Pakistan’s worst floods on the sides of a vehicle that was used as a mobile clinic.<br /><br />Between June and August last year, monsoon rains killed at least 1,700 people, damaged 2m homes, and destroyed crops and livelihoods. Sindh and Balochistan provinces were worst affected.<br /><br />Anchan, founder of the Phool Patti, a social enterprise project to promote Pakistani truck art around the world, was sent photographs of potential subjects to paint, and in May he and his team of artists travelled to Sindh to meet them. Anchan says hearing their stories was “eye-opening”.<br /><br />Maula Dinno*, a farmer in Sindh, says he thought he was “witnessing judgment day” when the floods arrived. “So much water entered our homes. We could not even sit on our charpoys [woven beds] as the water rose above them.<br /><br />“Everything was destroyed in the water. The cotton crops we had sown, the animals … we lost it all. I saw people falling so ill. We were compelled to seek shelter in tents on the nearby main roads. My family – my mother, my wife, Nusrat, and our children – spent two months living on the road.<br /><br />“My land was inundated, and by the time the water dried, the land was barren and unusable. We did not have the funds to plough the land or purchase the seed. The situation was so dire that I gave up. I felt as if I would never be able to use the land again.”<br /><br />Dinno received saplings, seeds and fertiliser from the NGO Concern Worldwide, and one year on, crops are beginning to grow back. “Yesterday, I carried mountains of troubles and trials, but now I am relieved [of them] and I am in a happy phase,” he says.<br /><br />Arslan, 11, remembers flood waters reaching as high as his neck. “I had never seen so much rain in my life,” he says. “I felt really scared. I didn’t know what would happen.”<br /><br />He says there was little food. “We could not get food like vegetables or rice or oil. I love to eat bhindi [okra] but nothing like that was available. The water had some dead fish in it but we were scared we would get sick if we ate that. Even flour was so expensive. Our school was damaged and we were really worried that we would not be able to continue our education.”<br /><br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-36717753781988583692023-07-05T16:39:29.774-07:002023-07-05T16:39:29.774-07:00Pakistan: EU mobilises over €16.5 million in human...Pakistan: EU mobilises over €16.5 million in humanitarian aid for most vulnerable<br /><br />https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_3640<br /><br /><br />The Commission is providing €16.5 million to assist the most vulnerable people in Pakistan who have been affected by conflict as well as climate-induced disasters.<br /><br />Of the overall allocation, €15 million will fund humanitarian organisations in Pakistan to provide food assistance, shelter, water and sanitation services as well as supporting Afghan refugees and their host communities. The other €1.5 million will focus on disaster preparedness programmes to promote climate resilience, foster coordination with local authorities and enhance the response.<br /><br />The EU mobilised €30 million in humanitarian aid and coordinated the incoming assistance from Member States channelled through its Civil Protection Mechanism in response to the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in summer 2022. A year after, the funding announced today will also ensure continued support to those who lost resources and struggle to recover from the flood disaster.<br /><br />Background<br /><br />In summer 2022, Pakistan faced the worst floods in its recent history which affected 33 million people, killing over 1700 people, and destroying at least 2.2 million houses. The floods submerged almost a third of the country and massively impacted agricultural production, resulting in a dramatic heightening of humanitarian needs.<br /><br />The spillover of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is also affecting neighbouring countries, especially Pakistan and Iran, which also continue to deal with cross-border displacement. Pakistan has hosted refugees for over four decades. The estimated Afghan population in Pakistan amounts to around 3.7 million, including a deemed 1.6 million undocumented Afghans and those of other status.<br /><br />The EU has allocated over €136 million in humanitarian assistance for Pakistan since 2016 and has been supporting the country since the 1990s, offering support in the wake of major disasters such as the 2005 earthquake and the 2010 and 2015 floods.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-28815237720670798252023-05-24T16:05:11.730-07:002023-05-24T16:05:11.730-07:00The 82-year-old female architect working to flood-...The 82-year-old female architect working to flood-proof Pakistan<br /><br />https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2023/5/24/the-82-year-old-female-architect-working-to-flood-proof-pakistan<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari, the country’s first female architect, is making bamboo houses for people living on the front lines of climate change.<br /><br /><br />At 82, architect Yasmeen Lari is forging a path in fortifying Pakistan’s rural communities living on the front lines of climate change.<br /><br />Lari, Pakistan’s first female architect, ditched a lifetime of multimillion-dollar projects in the megacity of Karachi to develop pioneering flood-proof bamboo houses.<br /><br />The few pilot settlements already constructed are credited with saving families from the worst of the catastrophic monsoon flooding that put a third of the country underwater last year.<br /><br />“We continued to live in them,” said Khomo Kohli, a 45-year-old resident of Pono Colony village, located a few hundred kilometres outside of Karachi.<br /><br />“The rest of the residents had to move onto the road where they lived for two months until the water receded.”<br /><br />Now, Lari is campaigning to scale up the project to one million houses made from affordable local materials, bringing new jobs to the most vulnerable areas.<br /><br /><br />“I call it a kind of co-building and co-creation because the people have an equal part in embellishing it and making it comfortable for themselves,” she said.<br /><br />The architect, who trained in the United Kingdom, is behind some of Karachi’s most notable buildings, including brutalist constructions such as the Pakistan State Oil headquarters, as well as a string of luxury homes.<br /><br />As she was considering retirement, a series of natural disasters – including a massive 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods – stiffened her resolve to continue working with her Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which manages her rural projects.<br /><br />“I had to find the solution, or find a way by which I could build up the capacities of people so that they could fend for themselves, rather than waiting for outside help,” she told AFP news agency.<br /><br />------<br /><br />Lari recalls working on social housing in Lahore in the 1970s when local women pored over her plans and probed her on where their chickens would live.<br /><br />“Those chickens have really remained with me, the women’s needs are really the uppermost when I am designing,” she said.<br /><br />This time around, the redesign of traditional stoves has become a significant feature – now lifted off the floor.<br /><br />“Earlier, the stove would have been on the ground level and so it was immensely unhygienic. The small children would burn themselves on the flames, stray dogs would lick pots and germs would spread,” said Champa Kanji, who has been trained by Lari’s team to build stoves for homes across Sindh.<br /><br />“Seeing women becoming independent and empowered gives me immense pleasure,” Lari said.<br /><br />Lari’s work has been recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects, which awarded her the 2023 Royal Gold Medal for her dedication to using architecture to change people’s lives.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-61516180348658689752023-05-21T16:13:23.841-07:002023-05-21T16:13:23.841-07:00The octogenarian architect (Yasmeen Lari) working ...The octogenarian architect (Yasmeen Lari) working to flood-proof Pakistan - Digital Journal<br /><br /><br />https://www.digitaljournal.com/world/the-octogenarian-architect-working-to-flood-proof-pakistan/article<br /><br />At 82 years old, architect Yasmeen Lari is forging the way in fortifying Pakistan’s rural communities living on the frontline of climate change.<br /><br />Lari, Pakistan’s first woman architect, has ditched a lifetime of multi-million dollar projects in the megacity of Karachi to develop pioneering flood-proof bamboo houses.<br /><br />The few pilot settlements already constructed are credited with saving families from the worst of the catastrophic monsoon flooding that put a third of the country underwater last year.<br /><br />“We continued to live in them,” said Khomo Kohli, a 45-year-old resident of Pono Colony village, which is a few hundred kilometres outside of Karachi.<br /><br />“The rest of the residents had to move onto the road where they lived for two months until the water receded.”<br /><br />Now, Lari is campaigning to scale up the project to one million houses made from affordable local materials, bringing new jobs to the most vulnerable areas.<br /><br />“I call it a kind of co-building and co-creation, because the people have an equal part in embellishing it and making it comfortable for themselves,” she said.<br /><br />The architect, who trained in the United Kingdom, is behind some of Karachi’s most notable buildings, including brutalist constructions such as the Pakistan State Oil headquarters, as well as a string of luxury homes.<br /><br />As she was considering retirement, a series of natural disasters — including a massive 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods — stiffened her resolve to continue working with her Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which manages her rural projects.<br /><br />“I had to find the solution, or find a way by which I could build up the capacities of people so that they could fend for themselves, rather than waiting for outside help,” she told AFP.<br /><br />“My motto is zero carbon, zero waste, zero donor, which I think leads to zero poverty,” she said.<br /><br />– Traditional techniques –<br /><br />Climate change is making monsoon rains heavier and more unpredictable, scientists say, raising the urgency to flood-proof the country — particularly as the poorest live in the most vulnerable areas.<br /><br />Pakistan, with the world’s fifth-largest population, is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is one of the nations most vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather.<br /><br />Pono Colony, with around 100 houses, was developed just months before catastrophic monsoon rains arrived last summer and displaced eight million people.<br /><br />The village’s elevated homes are protected from rushing water, while their bamboo skeletons — pierced deep into the ground — can withstand pressure without being uprooted.<br /><br />Known locally as “chanwara”, the mud huts are an improved take on the traditional single-room houses dotted along the landscape of southern Sindh province and Rajasthan state in India.<br /><br />They require only locally available materials: lime, clay, bamboo and thatching. With straightforward training to locals, they can be assembled at a cost of around $170 — around an eighth of the cost of a cement and brick house.<br /><br />In rural Sindh, tens of thousands of people are still displaced and stagnant water stands in large parts of farmland almost a year after the country’s worst-ever floods.<br /><br />The World Bank and Asian Development Bank in a joint study estimated Pakistan sustained $32 billion in damage and economic losses and would require $16 billion for reconstruction and rehabilitation.<br /><br />– Royal recognition –<br /><br />Lari recalls working on social housing in Lahore in the 1970s, when local women pored over her plans and probed her on where their chickens would live.<br /><br />“Those chickens have really remained with me, the women’s needs are really the uppermost when I’m designing,” she said.<br /><br />This time around, the redesign of traditional stoves has become a significant feature — now lifted off the floor.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-62508656936951121602023-04-27T17:08:19.935-07:002023-04-27T17:08:19.935-07:00Yasmeen Lari, 'starchitect' turned social ...Yasmeen Lari, 'starchitect' turned social engineer wins one of architecture's most coveted prizes - CNN Style<br /><br /><br /><br />https://www.cnn.com/style/article/yasmeen-lari-riba-royal-gold-medal/index.html<br /><br />The Royal Gold Medal is awarded to a person (or group of people) who has had "significant influence on the advancement of architecture" and, RIBA says, "acknowledges Yasmeen Lari's work championing zero-carbon self-build concepts for displaced populations."<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari, widely recognised as Pakistan's first female architect, has become the first woman since Zaha Hadid to win the prestigious Royal Gold Medal, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).<br /><br />Lari, described by RIBA as "a revolutionary force in Pakistan," was recognized for the socially conscious work, creating accessible, environmentally friendly homes for the country's most marginalized people — those living below the poverty line and in communities displaced by natural disasters and the impact of climate change.<br />The Royal Gold Medal is awarded to a person (or group of people) who has had "significant influence on the advancement of architecture" and, RIBA says, "acknowledges Yasmeen Lari's work championing zero-carbon self-build concepts for displaced populations."<br /><br />The award is personally approved by the British monarch and this year's is the first to be signed off by King Charles III.<br /><br />"I was so surprised to hear this news and of course totally delighted! I never imagined that as I focus on my country's most marginalised people — venturing down uncharted vagabond pathways — I could still be considered for the highest of honours in the architectural profession," Lari said in a statement. "There are innumerable opportunities to implement principles of circular economy, de-growth, transition design, eco-urbanism, and what we call Barefoot Social Architecture (BASA) to achieve climate resilience, sustainability and eco justice in the world."<br />Born in Pakistan in 1941, Lari studied at Oxford Brookes University before returning to Pakistan in 1964 where she overcame "considerable challenges" to establish Lari Associates, her own architecture firm, creating glitzy buildings for major government, business, and financial institutions. But she developed a deepening sense of guilt over the amount of concrete and steel used, and has said she has been "atoning" ever since, now working to a mantra of "low cost, zero carbon, zero waste."<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-5738726465098349542023-04-02T19:37:13.330-07:002023-04-02T19:37:13.330-07:00Pakistani Village Seen as Model of Climate Resilie...Pakistani Village Seen as Model of Climate Resilience (designed by Architect Yasmeen Lari_<br /><br />https://www.voanews.com/a/pakistani-village-seen-as-model-of-climate-resilience/7031776.html<br /><br /><br />The village of Pono in Pakistan's southern Sindh province is so small it’s difficult to find on Google maps, but it’s still getting international attention. That’s because the village is designed to show how communities that are most vulnerable to climate change can become climate resilient and self-sustaining using old techniques. VOA's Pakistan Bureau Chief Sarah Zaman visited Pono and brings this report.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-87914525522702849822023-03-13T17:06:45.227-07:002023-03-13T17:06:45.227-07:00UNICEF Pakistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. ...UNICEF Pakistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. 10 (Floods): 28 February 2023<br /><br />https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/unicef-pakistan-humanitarian-situation-report-no-10-floods-28-february-2023<br /><br /><br />Moving into 2023, urgent and significant humanitarian needs remain which require continued focus and support, even as reconstruction and rehabilitation begin under the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and Resilient, Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework (4RF).<br /><br />The 2022 flood was equivalent to nearly 2.9 times the national 30-year average – and a combination of riverine, urban, and flash flooding led to a record flood in which 94 districts were declared calamity-hit. The widespread flooding and landslides resulted in major losses of human lives and damage to property and infrastructure. Around 33 million people were affected, nearly 8 million people were reportedly displaced, and as per UN Satellite Centre imagery around 4.5 million people are still exposed to or living close to flood water. As per the last NDMA situation report, 1,739 people lost their lives (of which 647 were children), 12,867 were injured (including 4,006 children) and more than 2.28 million houses were damaged (partially damaged: 1,391,467 and fully damaged: 897,014).<br /><br />An estimated 20.6 million people, including 9.6 million children, need humanitarian assistance. Many of the hardest-hit districts are amongst the most vulnerable districts in Pakistan, where children already suffer from high malnutrition, poor access to water and sanitation, low school enrolment, and other deprivations. Moreover, the effects of the floods have worsened pre-existing vulnerabilities to key child-protection issues and gender-based violence (GBV). Children, particularly those living in poverty, are at a higher risk of being forced into child labour, child marriage and violence. The affected area in need of community-based psychosocial support and specialized interventions. As per the PDNA, beyond the increase in monetary poverty, estimates indicate an increase in multidimensional poverty from 37.8 per cent to 43.7 per cent, meaning that an additional 1.9 million households will be pushed into non-monetary poverty. This entails significantly increased deprivations around access to adequate health, sanitation, quality maternal health care, electricity, and loss of assets. Multidimensional poverty will increase by 13 percentage points in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), followed by 10.9 in Balochistan, and 10.2 in Sindh province.<br /><br />As per the latest available reports, more than 5.4 million people do not have access to safe or potable water in flood-affected districts. An estimated 1.1 million people are at risk of sliding from acute food and livelihood crisis (IPC3) situations to humanitarian emergency (IPC4) food security situations due to insufficient support. Malaria outbreaks have been reported in at least 12 districts of Sindh and Balochistan. Over 7 million children and women need immediate access to nutrition services. An estimated 3.5 million children, especially girls, are at high risk of permanent school dropouts.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-29765710007086959872023-03-03T16:48:49.822-08:002023-03-03T16:48:49.822-08:00Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods...Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods<br /><br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/03/pakistan-punjab-flood-recovery/<br /><br /><br /><br />Still, Abid Qaiyum Suleri, an environmental expert in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, noted in an essay in the News newspaper in January that millions of poor people in flood-affected areas feel “as helpless today … as they were yesterday,” with their land useless, their homes still in ruins and scant prospects for the future. Physical reconstruction, he added, “is only part of what is required for a dignified recovery for flood survivors.”<br /><br />One determined farmer in Rajanpur, a man in his 60s named Hamidullah, decided to take a chance two months ago and plant wheat on his four acres of land. He said he felt lucky because he and his wife and children had been saved from the flood by clinging to their large male buffalo, who was heavy and able to swim through the rushing water to higher ground.<br /><br />“I used to grow cotton and rice, but none of that can grow here now. The land is too dry and they need a lot of water,” he said. He pointed to his small patch of emerald green outside the village, surrounded by larger, barren ground. “So far it is coming along,” he said. “We lost everything; our beds, our cooking pots, our clothes. But we survived, because of our buffalo,” he said. “If this wheat crop does well, maybe I can rebuild our house.”<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-31315625305687407072023-03-03T16:48:03.964-08:002023-03-03T16:48:03.964-08:00Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods...Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods<br /><br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/03/pakistan-punjab-flood-recovery/<br /><br /><br />As the villages came into view, they appeared grim and silent at first. Many mud-brick houses and farm sheds were still in ruins. Roofs were missing, doorways were hung with tarps or jute tents, and piles of nearby rubble had not been moved. Children and baby goats scampered in dirt yards, but little else seemed to be happening.<br /><br />Under a shady tree, Mohammad Asghar, 35, was tending to his most valuable possession, a brown and white dairy cow named Honesty. Unlike many of his skeptical neighbors, he had planned ahead when the first flood warnings came, walking her to a high paved road before the water rose and taking a supply of fodder as well. “I wanted to make sure nothing happened to her,” he said. “She gives me 3.5 liters [about a gallon] of milk every day.”<br /><br />Planting and tending new crops, however, has proved to be far more challenging. Most of the farmers’ stored seeds and tools were washed away or ruined. The surrounding cropland was submerged for several months afterward, leaving a soggy, useless mess.<br /><br />A variety of government and private agencies have brought help to the area since the floods, but the bulk of it was devoted to initial emergency rescues. As in many other parts of Pakistan, thousands of Rajanpur residents fled their flooded villages or were evacuated in boats, then marooned for weeks on elevated paved roads. Aid teams provided tents and blankets, food and water, medical and veterinary services, and other immediate needs.<br /><br />“Our first priority was to save lives,” said Mohsin Issaq, the south Punjab coordinator for a private charity called Muslim Hands, which delivered food, supplies and medical aid to more than 14,000 stranded people. Now that most have returned home, he said, the group is focusing on permanent needs to sustain farming and daily life, such as water pumps and desalination kits. It also offers families a Quran if theirs was washed away or damaged. Every home needs to have one, he said. “It is an important cultural value.”<br /><br />But long-term support for farm rehabilitation across millions of unusable acres is far more expensive than emergency food and medicine, and the floods struck at a time when Pakistan was already facing a long list of economic woes — rampant inflation, dwindling foreign reserves, record-low currency rates, and a heavy foreign debt burden that raised the prospect of financial default.<br /><br />One estimate by Pakistani and U.N. officials put the total costs for flood damage recovery and reconstruction at $16.3 billion. Early international response was low, in part because of reports of aid misuse during Pakistan’s last major floods, in 2010. A conference in Geneva in January, however, donors from 40 countries and institutions, including the European Union, the United States and Saudi Arabia, pledged over $9 billion to help Pakistan recover from the floods, exceeding its request for $8 billion.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-81395813375089182422023-03-03T16:46:21.246-08:002023-03-03T16:46:21.246-08:00Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods...Pakistani villages recover slowly from epic floods<br /><br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/03/pakistan-punjab-flood-recovery/<br /><br />With houses still damaged and water scarce, farm families in south Punjab tend surviving animals and parched fields<br /><br />RAJANPUR, Pakistan — Cradling his infant son in one arm, a village farmer brought out a wooden trough he had nailed together from broken boards. His brother poured grain into it. Hearing the sound, the family cow trotted across the yard and buried her nose in the feed. The little boy waved his arms, and everyone laughed.<br /><br />Rajanpur, a rural district of southwestern Punjab province, sits at the edge of a vast fertile belt that has long been known as the breadbasket of Pakistan, growing much of its wheat, sugar, feed corn and cotton, as well as mangoes and green vegetables.<br /><br />But seven months after the Indus River overflowed its banks and the picturesque Sulaiman Hills unleashed torrents of water amid heavy monsoon rains, decimated farm communities are still recovering from Pakistan’s worst natural disaster since its founding in 1947. Nationwide, more than 1,700 people died and over 30 million were displaced. More than a million farm animals also perished, swept away in fast waters or succumbing to hunger and cold.<br /><br />In another hamlet nearby, two men on motorbikes unloaded heavy metal containers full of water, which they had filled at a town pump several miles away. Since the floods, the local water has remained too salty for either humans or farm animals to drink.<br /><br />“It’s going to take a long time before things recover here,” said Mohammed Ali, a day laborer in his 40s who helps fetch the containers every morning. “It’s still hard to grow anything on the land. People have lost their homes and their belongings. But at least this way they can have some sweet water in the morning.”<br /><br />Although most of the flooding affected other provinces, Rajanpur and next-door Dera Ghazi Khan were among 84 districts across the country to be declared “national calamity” areas. In Rajanpur alone, according to news reports and officials, 12 people were killed — including a woman bitten by a cobra that washed down from the hills. Another 3,000 were injured, 300,000 acres of cropland were ruined and 28,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with 425 schools, 16 hospitals and numerous bridges.<br /><br />On a recent visit to several villages, the only access was along narrow, raised dirt tracks between endless fields. The surrounding landscape looked as if a tornado had roared through it erratically, leaving a few areas lush and green but turning many others into barren, lifeless patches of cracked brown earth that no ordinary plow could till.<br /><br />Along the way, large puddles of dirty brown water sat stagnant, covered with green scum. A few sandpipers scuttled around the edges — shorebirds from afar that had arrived with the floods and remained behind afterward for reasons of their own.<br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-59265053513862139722023-01-18T22:20:05.018-08:002023-01-18T22:20:05.018-08:00Pakistanis build climate-resilient homes in afterm...Pakistanis build climate-resilient homes in aftermath of devastating floods | PBS NewsHour<br /><br />https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pakistanis-build-climate-resilient-homes-in-aftermath-of-devastating-floods<br /><br />For mass shelter projects, she (Yasmeen Lari) found a game-changing substitute in lime, an abundant mineral that, mixed with traditional mud, becomes stable and water-resistant, she says.<br /><br />----------<br /><br />Pakistan is struggling to recover from last year’s cataclysmic flooding that killed more than 1,700. It was the latest in a string of weather-related disasters the country has faced over the past two decades, prompting calls to make hard-hit communities more resilient as they rebuild. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from the flood-ravaged Sindh province, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />On a recent morning here in rural Sindh Province, workers, including residents of Pano (ph), a model village, were building bamboo frames for construction.<br /><br />The need for durable shelter is overwhelming in a country still grappling with an enormous rebuilding effort. Last year's unrelenting rains wiped away hundreds of thousands of mud huts across rural areas. Standing water still covers acres of land once home to villages of mostly sharecroppers and farm laborers.<br /><br />The village of Pano and 12 others are the brainchild of globally acclaimed architect Yasmeen Lari, the first female to qualify as an architect in Pakistan; 82-year-old Lari has won several awards in a career that focused at first on designing modern buildings, like the Finance and Trade Center in Pakistan's commercial capital, Karachi.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari, Architect:<br /><br />You must about the architect that we're all trained to control everything, nothing should be different from what we have decided, what we design.<br /><br />And here was a different way of working altogether, where you have to lose your ego.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />In retirement, she found her calling at the intersection of architecture and social justice, she says, beginning with the devastating 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, where she planned to spend three months doing relief work.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari:<br /><br />While it didn't quite work out that way. I found there was plenty to do there.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Her focus shifted with the urgent need for structures that can be built quickly and sustainably in a country slammed in recent years by extreme climate events, moving away from concrete and steel, and using more local low-carbon and low-cost materials.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari:<br /><br />When I was a practicing architect, I built some huge, monster buildings with a lot of concrete and steel.<br /><br />And I found that 40 percent of carbon emissions are because of the conventional construction.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Among her signature projects is this pedestrian-only street in the heart of Karachi, emphasizing green space and terra-cotta tile, which drain rainwater much faster than the usual concrete.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari:<br /><br />Concrete is the worst thing, because everything becomes totally impervious.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />For mass shelter projects, she found a game-changing substitute in lime, an abundant mineral that, mixed with traditional mud, becomes stable and water-resistant, she says.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari:<br /><br />I found it was an absolutely miracle material, because it stabilized the earth completely and could last for years if you submerge it in water. And we have tested that.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Lari's structures incorporate climate-smart design and materials with traditional ones. The key is to build on higher ground, add a short platform for additional protection from floodwaters, and use a sloped, thatched roof.<br /><br />Yasmeen Lari:<br /><br />It's made out of eight prefab panels. And then it has a structure, a roof which is like an umbrella. So, there's a huge amount of air movement. So it's very comfortable inside.<br /><br />My own dream is really that if I could just save people from displacement, if they could be just these structures which will make sure that people can stay in them.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-81816049510458680482023-01-09T14:24:36.968-08:002023-01-09T14:24:36.968-08:00Pakistan Receives $10 Billion Commitment for Devas...Pakistan Receives $10 Billion Commitment for Devastating Floods<br />Fundraising exceeded $8 billion that prime minister sought<br />Floods killed more than 1,700 people and cut growth by half<br /><br />https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-09/pakistan-seeks-8-billion-to-rebuild-after-devastating-floods<br /><br />Pakistan has received commitments for more than $10 billion from the global community that it requested at a conference in Geneva to help the country rebuild houses and farms along with rehabilitating people impacted by floods.<br /><br />That exceeded the $8 billion over three years that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had sought.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-12482249707004440462023-01-09T11:11:23.771-08:002023-01-09T11:11:23.771-08:00Donors pledge more than $10b to help Pakistan floo...Donors pledge more than $10b to help Pakistan flood recovery: Official<br /><br /><br />https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/donors-pledge-more-than-10b-to-help-pakistan-flood-recovery-official<br /><br />GENEVA - Pakistan said on Monday that donors have committed to give more than US$8 billion (S$10 billion) to help it recover from last year’s devastating floods in what is seen as a major test for who pays for climate disasters.<br /><br />Officials from some 40 countries as well as private donors and international financial institutions are gathering for a meeting in Geneva as Islamabad seeks help covering around half of a total recovery bill of US$16.3 billion.<br /><br />Waters are still receding from the floods caused by monsoon rains and melting glaciers which killed at least 1,700 people and displaced around 8 million.<br /><br />Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb sent a tweet saying that pledges have reached US$8.57 billion - more than it had initially sought.<br /><br />Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank (US$4.2 billion), the World Bank (US$2 billion), the Asian Development Bank (US$1.5 billion) as well as the European Union and China, she said.<br /><br />France and the United States also made contributions.<br /><br />Earlier, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for massive investments to help Pakistan recover from what he called a “climate disaster of monumental scale”.<br /><br />“Pakistan is doubly victimised by climate chaos and a morally bankrupt global financial system,” he added. He later elaborated saying the current system is “biased” towards the rich countries who conceived it.<br /><br />Additional funding is crucial to Pakistan amid growing concerns about its ability to pay for imports such as energy and food and to meet sovereign debt obligations abroad.<br /><br />Pakistan’s finance minister is meeting an International Monetary Fund delegation on the sidelines of the Geneva meeting.<br /><br />Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the country is committed to the IMF programme but that he is asking the IMF for “breathing space” to meet its commitments, without elaborating.<br /><br />In comments to the conference earlier on Monday, Mr Sharif said Islamabad is willing to provide around half of the US$16.3 billion bill but wants donors to contribute the rest.<br /><br />“I am asking for a new lifeline for people who need to power our economy and re-enter the 21st century with a future that is protected from such extreme risks to human security,” he said.<br /><br />Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools as well as thousands of kilometres of roads and railways still need to be rebuilt, the UN says.<br /><br />Efforts to secure funding for the initial emergency phase of the disaster response were disappointing with a humanitarian aid package of US$816 million less than half funded , UN data showed.<br /><br />United Nations’ Development Programme Administrator Achim Steiner said the next phase of the Pakistan response represents a “monumental moment of reckoning for the entire world”. REUTERS<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-19744481652939843352023-01-04T12:39:02.588-08:002023-01-04T12:39:02.588-08:00Mismanagement complicates Pakistan’s long recovery...Mismanagement complicates Pakistan’s long recovery from deadly floods<br /><br />https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/mismanagement-complicates-pakistans-long-recovery-from-deadly-floods<br /><br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />For decades, Karachi has been a magnet for migrants from conflict and climate disasters. Decades ago, it ran out of room. Dotting the city's outskirts are clusters of ramshackle dwellings. These have stood since the 2010 floods.<br /><br />Less than a mile away, crammed under high-voltage power lines, a 2022 wave of settlers.<br /><br />Sikhandar Chandio, Flood Victim (through translator):<br /><br />When the water came, it came all of a sudden at night. We just managed to get out with whatever we could and had to abandon our animals.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Sikhandar Chandio and his wife, Sughra, were sharecropper farmers. They escaped with their four children, and were able to save one cow. They journeyed here on foot, which took a week.<br /><br />Sughra Chandio, Flood Victim (through translator):<br /><br />Everything was underwater. There were no facilities. There was no help, no food.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Today, they rely on a patchwork of charities, everyone overwhelmed by what U.N. officials describe as one of the worst climate disasters on record, slamming a country that contributes less than 1 percent of the world's greenhouse gases.<br /><br />Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistani Prime Minister (through translator):<br /><br />We have mobilized every available resource towards the national relief effort, and repurposed all budget priorities.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Pakistan took the lead at this year's COP 27 climate conference, helping to secure agreement on a loss and damage fund to help developing nations cope.<br /><br />Just how those funds, if they appear, will be used is a concern.<br /><br />Kaiser Bengali, Former Adviser, Pakistan Ministry of Planning and Development: But there is a fair amount of manmade responsibility for these floods, and politics plays a big part.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Kaiser Bengali was a government adviser during the 2010 floods, Pakistan's worst until 2022.<br /><br />Kaiser Bengali:<br /><br />I think it is also important to see how this fund will be utilized and how it will be implemented and whether the sociopolitical structures and the planning structures that need to be changed, made more effective happens.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />The 1,800-mile-long Indus River, lifeblood of Pakistan's agriculture sector, has been extensively engineered with dams and canals, beginning during British colonial times and ramping up in the 1960s with loans and advisers from international lending agencies.<br /><br />Has it been, in terms of food production, a reasonably good investment?<br /><br />Kaiser Bengali:<br /><br />Certainly. Lands where not even a blade of grass grew now produce two crops a year. It's just that one has to manage this better.<br /><br />Ahmed Kamal, Chairman, Pakistan Federal Flood Commission:<br /><br />Governance structure is not good.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-67838479513809773652023-01-03T08:35:13.169-08:002023-01-03T08:35:13.169-08:00Pakistan struggles to recover from historic floodi...Pakistan struggles to recover from historic flooding as waters refuse to recede<br /><br />https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/pakistan-struggles-to-recover-from-historic-flooding-as-waters-refuse-to-recede<br /><br /><br />Months after historic flooding that killed more than 1,700 people, Pakistan is still struggling to recover. The UN is warning it might suspend its food support program for flood victims because it is running out of money. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Sindh, one of the hardest-hit provinces. This story is part of the series Agents for Change and produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center.<br /><br /><br />Amna Nawaz:<br /><br />Months after Pakistan's historic flooding that killed more than 1,700 people, the South Asian nation is still struggling to recover.<br /><br />And the United Nations is warning it might soon have to suspend its food support program for flood victims because it's running out of money.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro has the latest from one of the hardest-hit provinces of Sindh.<br /><br />This story is produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center and part of Fred's series Agents for Change.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Pakistan is no stranger to flooding. But, this time, the water never left. Huge swathes of land, farms and towns, remain underwater.<br /><br />Four months after the flood, this school in the Dadu district, like so many others, remains inaccessible to students, its first floor still completely inundated. The building used to be surrounded by rice fields. It's now surrounded by a lake. The school community is now scattered among some of the five million people still living in flimsy shelters like these.<br /><br />Sumar Machhi, Flood Victim (through translator):<br /><br />Our house is broken. Our animal livestock has been lost. Our homes have collapsed. My son died. We have nothing. We're just sitting here helpless.<br /><br />Farzana Machhi, Flood Victim (through translator):<br /><br />Our house fell down. My brother died in the flood. He fell in the river and died.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Scientists blame a cataclysmic combination of glacier melts and monsoon rains, both intensified by climate change. It poured without interruption for days in a row, overwhelming a country that was ill-prepared and under-resourced.<br /><br />Simi Kamal, Hisaar Foundation:<br /><br />When we have these climate calamities, everyone's affected, but women and children are affected in particular.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Simi Kamal heads a Karachi-based foundation focused on development issues.<br /><br />Simi Kamal:<br /><br />In a society where social services are almost completely absent, and a lot of people survive on philanthropy and charity.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />The school in Dadu is one example, one of 1,800 run by a private charity called The Citizens Foundation. Before the flood, some 700 children attended the school. Now only about half the students have returned to a makeshift, mostly outdoor facility in a community center.<br /><br />Shabroz Mirani, The Citizens Foundation (through translator):<br /><br />The children are in extreme trauma. They're suffering from lots of difficulties. They don't have proper homes or food to achieve their goals.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Principals Shabroz Mirani and Abrim Babar (ph) no longer have access to the library, school records or electricity, but they persist, trying to bring some stability to the children's lives.<br /><br />How many children in the school today have eaten lunch?<br /><br />Shabroz Mirani:<br /><br />So, we have lots of — a lot of students that don't have — don't eat anything.<br /><br />Fred de Sam Lazaro:<br /><br />Malnutrition is made that much worse by living conditions. Standing water has drowned crops and spawned pathogens. Malaria, dengue skin and diarrheal diseases have all soared.<br /><br />About 500 children are brought into the pediatric emergency room at this hospital every single. That's more than double the number prior to the flood. And they are coming in far sicker.<br /><br />This E.R. in the town of Larkana is run by the ChildLife Foundation, a separate charity that partners with struggling public hospitals to modernize pediatric emergency care across the country.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-24163234640828510892022-12-30T08:14:45.134-08:002022-12-30T08:14:45.134-08:00Pakistan to spend $3bn on flood recovery by end-Ju...Pakistan to spend $3bn on flood recovery by end-June<br /><br />https://www.dawn.com/news/1728956/pakistan-to-spend-3bn-on-flood-recovery-by-end-june<br /><br />Having spent about $1.5 billion equivalent from its resources so far on flood rehabilitation, Pakistan would be seeking concessional loans from international development partners during the upcoming ‘donor conference’ in Geneva to build a resilient future with over $16bn worth of recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities.<br /><br />Talking to journalists, Secretary Ministry for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Syed Zafar Ali Shah said that the reconstruction and rehabilitation was an ongoing process and besides the about $1.5bn worth of expenditure so far, the spending on flood-hit areas would increase to $3bn by end of the current fiscal year.<br /><br />About Rs400bn more will be spent till the end of 2022-23 in flood-hit areas for rehabilitation of infrastructure, agriculture and other sectors, he said.<br /><br />“By June 30, we are planning to spend $2.5 to $3bn in the flood-hit areas from our resources and repurposing of loans”, he adds. The compensation amount, he said, was also being distributed through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), he said.<br /><br />Mr Shah said that according to estimates finalised in October through the support of international aid agencies, a total of $ 30.1bn in damages and economic losses had been caused by floods. The estimated needs for rehabilitation and reconstruction in a resilient way were put at least $16.3bn without including much-needed new investments beyond the affected assets to support Pakistan’s adaptation to climate change and overall resilience of the country to future climate shocks.<br /><br />He said housing, agriculture and livestock and transport & communications sectors suffered the most during floods with their respective losses estimated at $5.6bn, $3.7bn and $3.3bn.<br /><br />Sindh is the worst affected province with close to 70pc of total damages and losses, followed by Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.<br /><br />Giving a break-up, he said losses in Sindh stood at $20bn followed by $4bn in Balochistan and $700m each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and $5bn of inter-provincial infrastructure.<br /><br />However, he said the damage assessment in Sindh and Balochistan was still in progress. Responding to a question he said, the utilisation of the Public Sector Development Programme had been very slow at about 14pc by the third week of December against the total allocations despite healthy authorisations.<br /><br />He said the Planning Division had authorised Rs257bn so far for PSDP projects but the relevant agencies could utilise only Rs145bn against a PSDP budget of Rs727bn.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-80093834633013385312022-12-29T18:37:51.151-08:002022-12-29T18:37:51.151-08:00What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like?...What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like? Sindh offers clues.<br /><br />https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2022/1206/What-would-a-climate-resilient-Pakistan-look-like-Sindh-offers-clues<br /><br /><br />“We realized when the floods came that here [at the university] we had not just the resources to help, but through our students the access to remote affected areas, the enthusiasm to help, and the variety of talents required to play a critical role in the recovery,” says Farah Mahmood, director of UOL Relief.<br /><br />Thus students from the university’s medical and nursing schools and nutrition majors were called on to help out in the initial emergency phase. More recently, students in architecture, engineering, and technology are joining in to envision and develop climate-resistant housing, agriculture, roads, and water infrastructure.<br /><br />“Our students are our strength and our secret ingredient,” says Ms. Mahmood.<br /><br />Nasrullah Manjhoo is just one example of UOL Relief’s “secret ingredient.”<br /><br />A physical therapy student from a remote area of Balochistan province, Mr. Manjhoo came to UOL Relief’s attention after he posted videos on Facebook of the devastation in his native region.<br /><br />“I was surprised when I got a phone call from them, but when I realized it could help my village, I became enthusiastic,” says Mr. Manjhoo.<br /><br />In exchange for help with access to an area traditionally suspicious of outsiders, Mr. Manjhoo was able to help set the priorities for UOL Relief’s intervention in his area. Those included food, water, emergency shelter, and a medical clinic.<br /><br />Seventy percent of his area’s traditional mud-and-straw houses “disintegrated” in the endless rains, he says. So now architecture students are developing a sturdier model house using bamboo, reinforced clay, and tiles for roofing.<br /><br />The flooding “was terrible for so many people in my area, but I think now we” – by which he means his partnership with UOL Relief – “can help bring a better future,” Mr. Manjhoo says.<br /><br />Back in Gadap, that “better future” is already taking shape in new climate-resistant housing and the community’s first solar-powered lighting and water installations. Aisha Taj, a mother of five, proudly assembles her brood outside the cobalt blue house Alkhidmat recently built for her family. She says the house, built on a cement base with a roof designed not to retain water, is an example for the whole village of the progress coming from the tragedy of the flood.<br /><br />Abdul Rahim, who is on the list for a new house, shares this hope as he invites a visitor to view his family’s destroyed house, an earthen shell with crumbling walls and no roof.<br /><br />“We almost didn’t get out alive. Water and mud were coming from everywhere,” Mr. Rahim says. “What we are going to have soon will be much better.”Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-19128752267083551852022-12-29T18:36:44.967-08:002022-12-29T18:36:44.967-08:00What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like?...What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like? Sindh offers clues.<br /><br />https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2022/1206/What-would-a-climate-resilient-Pakistan-look-like-Sindh-offers-clues<br /><br /><br />Pakistan consistently ranks in the top 10 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. Not only is the interval between catastrophic monsoon seasons shrinking, but also rising temperatures are rapidly melting glaciers in the north. Karachi, a city of 15 million people, is considered by some experts the world’s most vulnerable major city.<br /><br />At the same time, an international community distracted by rising global hunger and mounting climate catastrophes seems to have almost forgotten about Pakistan.<br /><br />Just last month, United Nations officials relaunched pleas for emergency assistance for Pakistan, noting that the $816 million humanitarian appeal for Pakistan is barely one-fifth funded.<br /><br /><br />Some form of emergency food, shelter, and health care assistance has reached more than 4 million Pakistanis, according to U.N. officials. But with nearly one-fifth of the country affected by the flooding, and at least 5 million Pakistanis remaining displaced from homes and livelihoods as winter sets in, they say the crisis will only deepen without a quick turnaround in intervention.<br /><br />In November, Pakistani officials did score what they say will be an important step forward when they led a successful campaign at the COP27 in Egypt for a wealthy-country-financed climate mitigation fund.<br /><br />The fund, the details of which remain sketchy, would be designed to help developing countries like Pakistan that are increasingly prone to climate disasters build a more resilient future.<br /><br />But as promising as the concept may be, it does nothing for the millions of Pakistanis now facing rising food insecurity, lost shelter, and disrupted livelihoods and education.<br /><br />Increasingly, it is private Pakistani charities and a few innovative projects aimed at building back with more climate-resilient communities that are among the few bright spots on the country’s immediate bleak horizon.<br /><br />When nonstop torrential rains beginning in July suggested this would be a monsoon like nothing in Pakistan’s experience, Alkhidmat swung into action in areas where it was already well implanted in development work – often areas where a government presence is weak or nonexistent. Places like Mir Khan-Goth.<br /><br />“We didn’t turn to the government to take emergency action in the worst-affected areas. If anything it was the other way around,” says Mr. Baig. “They came to us when it became clear very quickly that the unprecedented needs for food, shelter, and health were beyond any one government’s or organization’s capabilities.”<br /><br />Yet now as flood recovery gradually shifts to reconstruction and renewal, Mr. Baig says he sees few signs of planning or preparation for the national “build back better” project government officials have begun touting.<br /><br />On the other hand, he says Alkhidmat has already developed a blueprint for a climate-resilient village, certain elements of which have been incorporated into their recent flood recovery projects.<br /><br />The new village Alkhidmat envisions would have 32 houses, all built on high ground, with reinforced construction materials and elevated flooring. Each village will have a solar-powered water pump and purification system – the pumps being a favorite feature for women, whose traditional job is to carry water, often long distances, for cooking and cleaning.<br /><br />Resilience through innovation<br />Another example of climate-crisis innovation is playing out farther north in Pakistan, where a relief organization established at the University of Lahore (UOL) is utilizing students’ talents and their familiarity with a wide range of communities across the country to take flood recovery and renewal to hard-to-reach areas.Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-66075406303519605552022-12-29T18:35:27.349-08:002022-12-29T18:35:27.349-08:00What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like?...What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like? Sindh offers clues.<br /><br />https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2022/1206/What-would-a-climate-resilient-Pakistan-look-like-Sindh-offers-clues<br /><br /><br />When unrelenting flood waters hit the small, hardscrabble village of Mir Khan-Goth in Pakistan’s Sindh province last August, Seema had no idea how a life that had carried on in familiar patterns over many decades was about to change.<br /><br />First, the powerful tide of earth-laden water carried away Seema’s daughter, who had ventured out into a thigh-high river to salvage any food she could at the outdoor kitchen. She would never return, leaving Seema, who offered only her first name, to care for her four grandchildren.<br /><br />But the floods also left the family’s traditional thatched, one-room hut roofless and teetering – no match for the weeks on end of unprecedented rains that followed the floods. Scientists say that pattern is likely to repeat with climate change fueling increasingly extreme weather. Like more than half of the 50 thatched or earthen houses that made up Mir Khan-Goth before this year’s monsoon rains, Seema’s house was suddenly no longer a refuge, but a trap.<br /><br />So it is some measure of progress that, despite the sadness and setbacks, Seema can now gather her grandchildren in a new thatched house. The dirt floor is on elevated ground, and the walls and roof are secured by bamboo pillars.<br /><br />“There was so much loss, but we do have this,” she says as she motions inside the doorway of her new home, built by the Alkhidmat Foundation, a private Islamic charity with a long history of disaster intervention and recovery.<br /><br />Across Mir Khan-Goth and the dozens of similar villages dotting the landscape of the Gadap region of Sindh north of Karachi, signs slowly sprout of recovery from Pakistan’s devastating floods of July and August. Goat herders – including the father of Seema’s grandchildren – are back in mud-caked fields, tending their shrunken flocks. Local men desperate to see transportation and deliveries resume have done what they can to patch up washed-out roads. Women have reassembled outdoor kitchens and banded together to stretch donated food supplies across their villages.<br /><br />But with an already weak civilian government overwhelmed by the scale of the devastation, and the country’s powerful military ill-equipped to transition from emergency intervention to climate adaptation, nothing on the order of a national recovery project has yet to take shape. Instead, rebuilding efforts have been driven largely by local universities and nonprofits, such as Alkhidmat.<br /><br />“Right now Pakistan is an example of climate crisis,” says Naveed Baig, director of Alkhidmat’s Sindh office in Karachi, “but I think if we can respond to the task before us and make a success of our national recovery, Pakistan can be a model for climate adaptation and resilience.”Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-88287033963255682812022-12-24T07:55:02.342-08:002022-12-24T07:55:02.342-08:00UNICEF Pakistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. ...UNICEF Pakistan Humanitarian Situation Report No. 8 (Floods): 15 December 2022<br /><br />https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/unicef-pakistan-humanitarian-situation-report-no-8-floods-15-december-2022<br /><br />Situation in Numbers<br /><br />33 million<br />People affected by heavy rains and floods<br /><br />9.6 million<br />Children in need of humanitarian assistance<br /><br />20.6 million<br />People in need of humanitarian assistance<br /><br />Pakistan Floods Response Plan 2022<br /><br />Highlights<br /><br />Around 5.4 million people remain displaced as per the latest available data. In some locations of Sindh province, and in parts of Balochistan, water has yet to recede and may remain for several months into the new year, protracting the dire humanitarian situation for people in these areas.<br /><br />Based on damage severity, and propensity for severe cold weather, 35 districts across the country (14 of Sindh, 10 of Balochistan, 9 of KP and 2 of Punjab) have been identified as most exposed to difficult winter conditions.<br /><br />Under the nutrition programme, a total of 58,530 severely wasted children (12,010 new) have been enrolled for treatment.<br /><br />UNICEF has reached 1,053,429 people (193,852 new) with access to safe drinking water.<br /><br />Through UNICEF health programme, 1,453,429 people benefitted from primary healthcare services and 1,059,092 (40,018 new) children have been immunized against measles.<br /><br />UNICEF education programme has established 834 Temporary Learning Centers in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh, and is supporting 101,222 children (743,008 new) via diverse modalities.<br /><br />Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs<br /><br />The humanitarian situation in Pakistan has deteriorated since the monsoon season due to unprecedented flooding, especially impacting already vulnerable populations. Compounded by the political volatility, economic deterioration, the residual impact of COVID-19 and the protracted nutrition emergency, with high rates of global acute malnutrition (on average 23 per cent in the districts most affected by floods), children have been pushed to the brink. During the monsoon season, rainfall was equivalent to nearly 2.9 times the national 30-year average, causing widespread flooding and landslides with severe repercussions for human lives, property, and infrastructure. An estimated 20.6 million people, including 9.6 million children, need humanitarian assistance. To date, 94 districts have been declared ‘calamity hit’ by the Government of Pakistan. Many of the hardest-hit districts are amongst the most vulnerable districts in Pakistan, where children already suffer from high malnutrition, poor access to water and sanitation, low school enrolment, and other deprivations.<br /><br />In mountainous and high altitude areas of Pakistan, many also affected by the floods, have received snowfall and temperatures have fallen below 0 Celsius, particularly in the northern and northwestern parts of Pakistan including Khyber Pakhtunkwa (KP), Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Pakistan Administered Kashmir (PAK) and northern Balochistan. The coldest place in Pakistan usually are the glacial parts of GB, where in winters the average temperature remains below -20. Currently, as per Pakistan Metrological Department, mainly cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country, while very cold weather is expected in northern areas of the country (KP, GB, and PAK) and northern Balochistan.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-1505213254293268752022-12-20T10:56:24.130-08:002022-12-20T10:56:24.130-08:00Pakistan Association Dubai to build model village ...Pakistan Association Dubai to build model village for flood-hit victims<br /><br />https://dailytimes.com.pk/1040828/pakistan-association-dubai-to-build-model-village-for-flood-hit-victims/<br /><br />Pakistan Association Dubai (PAD), in collaboration with Al Khidmat Foundation, will build a model village in the Lasbela district of Pakistan’s Balochistan province for the flood-affected victims.<br /><br />The village will consist of 64 houses, a medical dispensary, a mosque, a school, a playground and a park. It will consist of 16 clusters with each cluster having four houses, benefiting around 600 people from the Lasbela district, which was one of the worst affected areas in the recent floods.<br /><br />The project will be powered by solar energy to provide clean water as well as sanitation and sewage facilities for the residents. The construction will begin on January 1, 2023, and is expected to complete by end of March.<br /><br />Dr Faisel Ikram, president, Pakistan Association Dubai, urged the community to come forward and play their role in making this project a success.<br /><br />“Earlier, when we launched this campaign, we envisioned building this model village. There were several paperwork and logistics which we had to ensure were well-aligned to help this project materialise. We remain grateful to Community Development Authority (CDA), the Dar Al Ber Society and the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities for their continuous efforts to facilitate our relief work. For donations, I request you to be a part of this noble cause,” said Dr Ikram.<br /><br />Al Khidmat Pakistan, which supported PAD in its relief efforts during floods, will also help in the construction and completion of this multi-component project, Khaleej Times reported. Pakistan faced the worst floods in its history recently as hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged and many public health facilities, water systems and were damaged in the natural catastrophe.<br /><br /><br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-84071615776396016342022-12-08T18:24:06.594-08:002022-12-08T18:24:06.594-08:00Eight million may still be exposed to Pakistan flo...Eight million may still be exposed to Pakistan floodwaters: UN<br />Pakistan saw record floods this summer after heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers submerged one-third of the country.<br /><br />https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/7/8-million-still-potentially-exposed-to-pakistan-floodwaters-un<br /><br />A United Nations report on Pakistan’s devastating floods says more than 240,000 people in the southern province of Sindh remain displaced while satellite images indicate about eight million are “still potentially exposed to floodwaters or living close to flooded areas”.<br /><br />According to the situation report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), released on Tuesday, at least 12 districts continue to report standing water, 10 of which are in Sindh and two in Balochistan.<br /><br />Pakistan witnessed catastrophic floods this summer after heavy monsoon rains and melting glaciers submerged one-third of the country, killing more than 1,700 and affecting a total of 33 million people.<br /><br />Houses, roads, bridges and rail networks were washed away, with the government estimating the total damage at more than $30bn.<br /><br />The UN report says while receding water has allowed millions to return home, they continue to face acute shortages of essential items such as food and medicine. It adds that the flood-hit regions are now tackling health-related challenges, though the numbers are showing a declining trend.<br /><br />Citing data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN report said cases of malaria have declined by 25 percent in Balochistan, 58 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 67 percent in Sindh since early September.<br /><br />The report added that a high number of malaria and cholera cases are still being reported from Sindh and Balochistan provinces, highlighting the “underlying vulnerabilities” in those regions.<br /><br />The UN report further said more than 600,000 children in Pakistan have not received a single polio vaccine because of a lack of access to areas devastated by the floods. Pakistan remains one of the two countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, that is yet to be declared polio free.<br /><br />The report also highlighted the food security situation in Pakistan. Quoting figures from the World Food Programme (WFP), another UN body, it said the highest food-insecure population was recorded in Sindh (3.9 million) and Balochistan (1.6 million).<br /><br />“Evidence from available data indicates that relief response to date has fallen well short of the need, with over 5.1 million people now experiencing IPC 4 conditions in flood-affected areas,” it said, adding that an additional 1.1 million could fall in the same category by early 2023.<br /><br />The IPC acute food insecurity classification differentiates between different levels of food insecurity, with phase four denoting an emergency and five being a catastrophe or famine.<br /><br />Farida Shaheed, a former Special Rapporteur for OCHA and an expert on rights-based development, told Al Jazeera the government’s emergency response after this year’s floods lacks a long-term approach.<br /><br />“The scale of devastation is massive. It is not something that can be fixed in months or a year. People have lost their homes, their crops, their livestock, their means of livelihood. I have not seen anything by the government that is being done with a long-term approach,” she said.<br /><br />“Perennial issues were accumulating and now they are all here. Devastation due to floods is far beyond the scope, but it was all a long time coming. Our development policies were not effective and we can now see the results.”Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5848640164815342479.post-56425519960498232512022-12-06T22:30:24.333-08:002022-12-06T22:30:24.333-08:00What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like?...What would a climate-resilient Pakistan look like? Sindh offers clues.<br /><br /><br />https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2022/1206/What-would-a-climate-resilient-Pakistan-look-like-Sindh-offers-clues<br /><br /><br /><br />“We didn’t turn to the government to take emergency action in the worst-affected areas. If anything it was the other way around,” says Mr. Baig. “They came to us when it became clear very quickly that the unprecedented needs for food, shelter, and health were beyond any one government’s or organization’s capabilities.”<br /><br />Yet now as flood recovery gradually shifts to reconstruction and renewal, Mr. Baig says he sees few signs of planning or preparation for the national “build back better” project government officials have begun touting.<br /><br />On the other hand, he says Alkhidmat has already developed a blueprint for a climate-resilient village, certain elements of which have been incorporated into their recent flood recovery projects.<br /><br />The new village Alkhidmat envisions would have 32 houses, all built on high ground, with reinforced construction materials and elevated flooring. Each village will have a solar-powered water pump and purification system – the pumps being a favorite feature for women, whose traditional job is to carry water, often long distances, for cooking and cleaning.<br /><br /><br />Resilience through innovation<br /><br />Another example of climate-crisis innovation is playing out farther north in Pakistan, where a relief organization established at the University of Lahore (UOL) is utilizing students’ talents and their familiarity with a wide range of communities across the country to take flood recovery and renewal to hard-to-reach areas.<br /><br />“We realized when the floods came that here [at the university] we had not just the resources to help, but through our students the access to remote affected areas, the enthusiasm to help, and the variety of talents required to play a critical role in the recovery,” says Farah Mahmood, director of UOL Relief.<br /><br />Thus students from the university’s medical and nursing schools and nutrition majors were called on to help out in the initial emergency phase. More recently, students in architecture, engineering, and technology are joining in to envision and develop climate-resistant housing, agriculture, roads, and water infrastructure.<br /><br />“Our students are our strength and our secret ingredient,” says Ms. Mahmood.<br /><br />Nasrullah Manjhoo is just one example of UOL Relief’s “secret ingredient.”<br /><br />A physical therapy student from a remote area of Balochistan province, Mr. Manjhoo came to UOL Relief’s attention after he posted videos on Facebook of the devastation in his native region.<br /><br />“I was surprised when I got a phone call from them, but when I realized it could help my village, I became enthusiastic,” says Mr. Manjhoo.<br /><br />In exchange for help with access to an area traditionally suspicious of outsiders, Mr. Manjhoo was able to help set the priorities for UOL Relief’s intervention in his area. Those included food, water, emergency shelter, and a medical clinic.<br /><br />Seventy percent of his area’s traditional mud-and-straw houses “disintegrated” in the endless rains, he says. So now architecture students are developing a sturdier model house using bamboo, reinforced clay, and tiles for roofing.<br /><br />The flooding “was terrible for so many people in my area, but I think now we” – by which he means his partnership with UOL Relief – “can help bring a better future,” Mr. Manjhoo says.<br /><br />Back in Gadap, that “better future” is already taking shape in new climate-resistant housing and the community’s first solar-powered lighting and water installations. Aisha Taj, a mother of five, proudly assembles her brood outside the cobalt blue house Alkhidmat recently built for her family. She says the house, built on a cement base with a roof designed not to retain water, is an example for the whole village of the progress coming from the tragedy of the flood.<br />Riaz Haqhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00522781692886598586noreply@blogger.com