Since it was
established over a week ago, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's Emergency Fund
has attracted less than 50,000 dollars in donations. The same goes for a
similar fund created a few days ago by chief minister of the northwestern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province Ameer Haider Hoti. Flood waters are not the
only bitter reality currently sweeping across Pakistan; mistrust in political
leaders is spreading just as rapidly. President Asif Zardari's decision to
commence a ten-day foreign tour -- despite solid warnings of an impending
disaster and despite reports of hundreds of deaths -- has dealt yet another
severe blow to the credibility and commitment of the head of the state.
While private
television channels kept flashing ever-mounting casualty figures and
destruction stories, the state-run Pakistan TV obediently followed Zardari to
Paris and London, sending home images that poured salt in Pakistan's wounds.
Pakistanis were in agony while their leaders were airlifted to a chateau
outside Paris. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Gilani, though in Pakistan, only
deigned to glance at the plight of the poor masses from a helicopter. Gilani
endured much criticism for staging such photo ops.
The KPK chief
minister also faced similar public anger and resentment for disappearing for
days as the floods marooned hundreds of thousands in the Malakand region. And
the sense one gets from the province is that the government machinery in most
of the affected areas -- KPK, Punjab and Sind -- was slow in responding to the
crisis. According to reports, many public officials appear utterly clueless,
unable to even coordinate the aid that local and foreign NGOs have been
bringing in.
The 2005
earthquake, we had hoped, gave Pakistan an opportunity to train and prepare for
similar natural disasters in future. Pakistan welcomed the establishment of the
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Provincial Disaster
Management Authority (PDMA).
But the slow
response to the recent Air Blue crash in the Margala hills -- practically
within walking distance of NDMA headquarters -- exposed those agencies' aura.
Essentially,
the floods have exposed both the political leaders' commitment to the people as
well as the state machinery's capability in times of crisis. Prompt and
efficient response, elaborate assessment methodology and transparency are some
of the yardsticks that are tested in times of crisis. As the dangerous water
deluge sweeps through the plains of Pakistan and about to hit the Arabian Sea
in the far south, the governance capability and service delivery will again be
on trial when the rehabilitation phase begins.
But must
continued skepticism of the political leadership and lack of trust in it really
cause us to hold back urgently-needed assistance? Probably not.
The scale of
the disaster is simply enormous, with hundreds of thousands of displaced people tenting
out in open fields and middle of roads where no dry patch is available.
Nearly 300 key
bridges and vital roads have either been partially or totally damaged. Entire
business and residential structures along and around the mighty almost 3000
kilometer long Indus or its tributaries have been knocked off by the gushing
waters. The unprecedented flood water has submerged millions of acres with cash
crops like cotton, corn, sugarcane, and rice from the north to the south.
Cotton or cotton-based products, for instance, account for 67 percent of the
country's export earnings.
The 1,800 or so
deaths so far may seem small compared to the 222,000 killed by the tsunami in
2004, but the floods have directly or indirectly affected the lives of over 14
million. There will be devastating economic drop-off in the months to come as
most of the crops near the Indus delta -- central Pakistan -- have practically
vanished and hundreds of thousands of tons of wheat stock continue to sit
soaked in water.
The United Nations
may have launched an initial $459 million flood appeal to meet the needs of
560,000 people affected by the overflowing rivers, but the worst of the
disaster still awaits: food, vegetable and fuel; shortages, power outages
because of closure of water-affected power plants; diminished import incomes
because of loss of the near-ready cotton crop. Epidemics like cholera and
hepatitis are the next immediate dangers looming over all the inundated areas.
While the World
Bank and other international institutions are likely to begin the Post Disaster
Damage Assessment in the coming weeks, it would take a massive effort to get
food to those faced with starvation.
In order to
prevent Pakistanis' dependence on religiously-motivated charity networks,
foreign governments and institutions shall have to move fast to devise
mechanisms for effective aid distribution -- even if some of this aid is lost
at the hands of domestic corruption. We all may have to finesse the issue of
accountability in order to help out those in dire straits.
(18)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE