WFP urges flood-hit Pakistan to enact disaster prevention strategies

Geneva, Oct 9(ANI): Floods in Pakistan will continue to wreak havoc on the population if disaster prevention strategies are not enacted, a senior World Food Program (WFP) official has warned.

The World Food Program's Executive Director for Operations, Ramiro Lopez da Silva, has said that regions such as the Sindh province are suffering from years of neglect and lack of development, making them particularly vulnerable to natural disasters.

"When you visit these areas like I did, you get a bit of a sense of despair from these populations," Voice of America quoted Lopez da Silva, as saying.

He said that these people, who mainly rely on cash crops such as cotton, will remain without an income until the waters recede and the next crop is harvested.

"Now you have a situation where two-thirds of the crops in that region are under water. So, that population lost the income of this year and will have access to income only after the monsoon of next year, if the monsoon does not generate floods. So, it is a terrible situation from a humanitarian viewpoint," said Lopez da Silva.

While lessons were learned from last year's disaster, he said, he does not think the government fully grasps the magnitude of the problems and is not taking the actions required to prevent this kind of devastation from recurring on a regular basis.

He suggested two types of investment that should be made to blunt the impact from the floods.

One involves an investment in, what he calls, hardware, which requires engineering skills to modernise the network of decades-old canals in Sindh. In addition, smaller canals, which have been neglected for a long time, need to be re-designed and maintained.

Lopez da Silva said that investments also need to be made in developing software, and "that is working to address the vulnerabilities of the population."

"And, that requires a concerted effort-an investment on health, education, food security, nutrition. So, these populations become more resilient and self-sufficient in situations like the situation they are confronted with today. And that is why the hardware is a "quick fix," the software is a deliberate effort over the years requiring political will and political commitment," he explained. (ANI)