Flooding in Pakistan has consistently failed to attract the media spotlight (see DR 552), and it's clear from recent "news" that the media situation has not improved.
U.S. military airlifts of aid to flood survivors ended Tuesday at Pakistan's request, according to reports by the Pakistani and U.S. governments. This is in spite of 6.8 million people left homeless on the cusp of winter by still-receding floodwaters, according to an isolated AFP story in the Sydney Morning Herald. The Pakistani report indicates that U.S. civilian aid agencies will be taking over, but doesn’t address whether that aid can be effectively delivered to such a large area with so much damaged infrastructure.
Based on the U.S. military report, it's apparent that the U.S. aircraft and crews were doing something significant—in four months of operations, the total relief they delivered included 436,000 halal meals, 26 million pounds of supplies, and the rescue of 40,000 people.
Meanwhile, the AFP reports that even though foreign donors have given about half of the $1.93 billion requested by the United Nations, Pakistan's prime minister has not distributed almost $60 million of reconstruction funds received. The World Bank estimates the cost of recovery to be closer to $10 billion, but refuses to participate in the Pakistani government's current aid distribution system because it distributes cash to survivors via ATMs without ensuring homes get rebuilt. These reservations were echoed by the director of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, and the U.S. Agency for International Development expressed its concerns to Pakistani officials last week, according to the AFP.
In one of the only English-language news reports on the implications of ending U.S. military airlifts, the BBC gave a voice to residents of Utror in mountainous Northwest Pakistan, where many roads and bridges have not been rebuilt. According to one woman interviewed, "Whatever food they're giving us, we eat straightaway because it's all we have…. When they stop the helicopters, I don't know how we're going to get food. All we can do is hope that God will help us."
Jolie Breeden is the lead editor and science communicator for Natural Hazards Center publications. She writes and edits for Research Counts; the Quick Response, Mitigation Matters, Public Health, and Weather Ready Research Award report series; as well as for special projects and publications. Breeden graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.