Pakistan - IOM has expressed concern that a lack of funds for post-flood operations in Pakistan will limit the organization’s ability to reach the hardest-hit communities.
 
“Government figures suggest that over 3.4 million people have been affected and the inter-agency shelter cluster reports that over 386,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. Many of these areas are experiencing their third consecutive year of flooding and are desperately vulnerable,” says IOM Pakistan Emergency Operations Manager Izora Mutya Maskun.
 
“IOM has already distributed all of its contingency stocks of emergency shelter and non-food relief items to 140,000 of the worst-affected victims and we are getting new requests for help every day,” she adds.
 
Only one concrete pledge of USD 0.7 million, from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has been received in response to IOM’s appeal for over USD 10 million.
 
This will allow IOM to provide emergency shelter assistance – plastic tarpaulins, bamboos, poles, ropes, fleece blankets, jerry cans and sleeping mats – to 5,200 vulnerable families in Sindh’s Jacobabad and Kashmore districts.
 
IOM is tracking displacement caused by the flooding to provide up-to-date information to humanitarian partners and the government on the needs of people in camps and temporary settlements. It is also working with communities and partner organisations to help them to better cope with recurrent natural disasters.
 
For more information please contact
 
Pakistan Emergency Stabilization and Support Unit (PESSU)
IOM Islamabad
Email: pessu@iom.int