UN-HABITAT’s team in Pakistan has completed a survey of housing needs for victims of the devastating July 2010 monsoon floods.
“The team used participant observation, community interviews and detailed analysis of individual houses to provide an overview of the damage, and, more importantly, an initial estimate of the capacity of households and communities to participate in the reconstruction,” said Lt. General Nadeem Ahmed (R), Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.
The results are published in a new Rapid Technical Assessment of Damage and Needs for Reconstruction in Housing Sector based on a survey conducted 20 August – 4 September 2010. The UN-HABITAT team assessed the housing situation in all 5 provinces and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
The report covers the different types of damage, aspects of construction such as building performance, existing practices in construction, material and local knowledge for protection of buildings and settlements. Community involvement during construction season and their off-season engagement in construction trends and practices is reported as well.
“We are confident that it will also assist the work of other agencies, institutions, NGOs and communities to plan better, safer and more secure housing,” General Nadeem Ahmed added.
The report was finalized with the full support of the National Disaster Management Authority under the One UN Joint Programme for Disaster Risk Management.
Meanwhile, the , the Red Cross and Red Crescent aid groups reported this week that millions of Pakistanis affected would need humanitarian assistance for the next two years, with many still trapped by high water.
Three months on, more than one million people are still living in camps because of high water in Sindh and the situation is repeated in other affected areas, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.
“Even when people can return home, they will need humanitarian assistance for the next two years. This is not just in Sindh but across the country,” said the Red Cross flood operations coordinator, Nelson Castano.
In hard-hit Sindh, one million people are living in tents and lack access to food and clean water, the statement said. In Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, most displaced families have returned home but many basic services have been destroyed and there are few sources of income.
“Winter is fast approaching and we are doing what we can to ensure people have a warm place to sleep during the cold months ahead,” Mr. Castano was quoted as saying in Pakistan’s main English language daily, Dawn.
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