Pleasedon't ignore Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the worst affected (90 % devastated) province by floods: An appeal to Federal Government, media and international community.
It's heartening to see the list of donors and the committments, however the total amount committed so far by the international community still falls too short of the 450 million requested by the UN. The federal government has absolved itself by handing over a cheque of Rs 50 million (583000 $) to the chief minister.
According to the information minister the rough estimates of damage could touch the figure of two trillion rupees. The mainstream media (Lahore and Karachi based) is currently highlighting the plight of Punjabis/ Sindhis/or Baluchis in Kacha areas of Abasind.
Here the deaths have been minimal, movable livelihood assets could be saved, and the flood will provide a bumper crop of Kharif and next year Rabi in all the kacha areas of sind and Punjab. It's in a way welcomed by the farmers of Kacha in Sind and Punjab as such floods enhance the land productivity and bring in the much needed moisture to grow cropsin the kacha area of Punjab and sindh.
In comparison the Pukhtoon Khwa harboring most of the affectees almost 70% of the total 20 million flood affectees of Pakistan is not getting any attention by the federal Government, media, donors and international relief organizations etc. This is what I will term the benefit of being the front state on war on terror.
According to the reports received, there has been large scale infrastructure damage, such as roads, bridges, irrigation canals, dams, schools and health centers in Chitral, Dir Upper and lower, Swat, Malakand, Shangla, Kohistan, Batagram, Charsadda and Nowshehra and to some extent in Haripur. Similarly sectors such as Agriculture, Livestock, forests, has taken the main brunt of the floods. Needless to say that 200,000 acres has been totally destroyed in Pukhtoon Khwa alone (not to mention the standing crops such as paddy, sugarcane and maize), the reclamation of this lands remains a mammoth task.
A wild guess can put the estimate much much higher than the committed resources by the international communities. The Chinooks and Glob masters can help in Rescue and relief however we need solid commitment of resource allocation by the international community and the federal government for rehabilitation of more than 15 million people in Pukhtoon Khwa alone. Any commitment of less than 2 billion $ alone for Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa may not be able to get the affected people to a standered of life they have been enjoying before the floods.
I would appeal everyone to pressurize the federal government, international donor community through the media and pressure groups to increase their commitments in terms of financial allocations to PuKhtoon Khwa and treat the citizens of Pukhtoon Khwa as equals. The Major chunk of the meager resources available from the international donors must be spent on the people affected by these floods in Pukhtoon Khwa and the rehabilitation of the destroyed infrastructure.
By: Arshad Haroon
Click on the links to see the picures of unbelievable devestation and destruction in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa- Pakistan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESqaSgeWJfA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2vNTEzkf_g&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPdxEU75UYk&feature=player_embedded
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