Flood Survivors Face A New Challenge: Surviving Hunger Attributed to Pakistan's Current Food Shortage

Flood Survivors Face A New Challenge: Surviving Hunger Attributed to Pakistan's Current Food Shortage
Photo by Marijke B. via Flickr

15-09-2022

Catherine Yu 

Pakistan & Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

As floods continue to ravage numerous areas in Pakistan, international organisations appeal for immediate intervention, fearful of the developing food crisis. According to The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Commi­t­tee of the Red Cross (ICRC), prior to the start of the flood calamity, 43 percent of Pakistan's population experienced food insecurity and it is anticipated that this number will dramatically rise. Additionally, the IFRC and ICRC stated that over 733,000 livestock were drowned, and nearly 21 million acres of crops, as well as an estimated 65 percent of Pakistan's food supply (such as rice and wheat), were inundated by the flood.

World leaders are failing to establish swift and efficient responses to Pakistan's floods along with other disasters such as Europe’s heatwaves. As greenhouse gases in the atmosphere proceed to rise, our planet is slowly drifting closer to disastrous levels of climatic tipping, warns the United in Science report. 

Having said that, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have affirmed continuation of aid towards Pakistan. WHO inaugurated an emergency operations centre in Pakistan's Swat district on Tuesday (September 13th), with the purpose of providing critical medical supplies to the area, such as theatre lamps and anaesthesia machines, as well as establishing a central point for distribution of water purification tablets, vaccines, and nutritional supplements. Furthermore, FAO's chief stated that the organisation is launching an emergency reaction to vaccinate livestock, implement animal feed distribution, and increase agricultural productivity input for the forthcoming Rabi season.



Sources and further reading:

[1] Report, D. (2022, September 14). Festering food crisis worries Red Cross; Guterres terms floods 'unnatural'. DAWN.COM. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.dawn.com/news/1710026/festering-food-crisis-worries-red-cross-guterres-terms-floods-unnatural