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The floods that began in August 2011 and swept across the province of Sindh and part of Bolochistan resulted in one of the most destructive disasters that Pakistan has experienced.

Three months after widespread flooding that has affected over 5 million people in southern Pakistan, a critical shortage of funding and broad international disinterest has left millions of people at risk of illness, malnutrition and cold as the winter closes in.

Disasters do not have lead to devastation, and today Oxfam called on the Government of Pakistan and the international community to invest in measures that reduces and manages the risk of disasters at district and community levels.

Pakistan is one of the world’s most hazard-prone countries, with each humanitarian crisis costing lives and money and deepening the alarming levels of poverty and malnutrition.

This Pakistan Development Forum meeting was a rare chance for donors to think outside the box for solutions to tackle some fundamental issues thrown up by the floods – one of the most devastating natural disasters this country has ever seen.

  Consuelo Lopez-Zuriaga, Oxfam Head of Humanitarian Campaigns, said, 

People in the Swat Valley in Northern Pakistan hit by the catastrophic floods were only just recovering from the conflict that forced them from their homes last year, said Neva Khan, Oxfam’s Country Director in Pakistan.

An estimated 1 million people have been affected by serious flooding in Pakistan. Oxfam has begun a humanitarian response, working with local partners in Pakistan.

The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) urges the international community to play its part in meeting the immediate needs of millions of Pakistanis, and warns that without long-term funding, rebuilding this devastated country will prove virtually impossible.

The floods that have engulfed Pakistan over the last week are a mega disaster and the world needs to mount a mega response to ensure the millions affected get the help they need, international aid agency Oxfam said today as it called for a “gear shift” in the response to the crisis.