floods

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.

Tropical storm Dando and cyclone Funso affected more than 117,000 people and left 40 dead in Mozambique last week. Oxfam and local partners are providing water and sanitation in Zambezia, to help reduce the risk of cholera and other sanitation-related disease.

International aid agency Oxfam today warned that a disease outbreak is “waiting to happen” unless authorities quickly manage the shortage of water supply and address sanitation needs around shelter areas, since the flash floods hit the area over the weekend.

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.

Over nine million people who have been affected by severe flooding in Sindh province are at risk of disease and widespread malnutrition, while relief efforts reaching over five million people are under threat due to lack of funds.

Intense rainfall has battered Central America for more than a week, wreaking havoc across the region. Oxfam is proving emergency assistance in El Salvador to help combat the dangerous floods and mudslides resulting from the rain.

Commitments that were made by governments in 2005 to ensure that people are better prepared for disasters in Pakistan have fallen short and will not be met by the deadline of 2015.

The gains made and the lives saved through flood-relief activities in Pakistan are in jeopardy as critical emergency-response supplies run low

International aid agency Oxfam expressed alarm over the floods in Sindh and Balochistan provinces, as only $1.30 has been committed per person by international donors in the first 10 days of the UN appeal as opposed to $3.20 committed in the same period during last year’s floods.

While more than seven million people have been affected by the floods in Sindh since they began less than 50 days ago, Oxfam is urgently calling on the international donor community to expedite its response in order to give critical and life-saving relief to those in need.