The devastating floods of Pakistan in August 2010 came as a shock to the Pakistani people and it will take many weeks before the country is restored to how it once was. Flooding is a natural disaster that can hit anyone at any time and in poorer countries the truth is that their defences are not as good. Flood restoration in Pakistan will be difficult as many homes will not be able to be restored and people have to rebuild their lives from the beginning. So what can be done?
The relief effort is taking time and it is estimated that 16m people will have been affected by the flooding. Homes have been destroyed, crops wiped out and people’s livelihoods are in tatters. In this case, flood restoration will be a lengthy process and people should be aware of how devastating it can be for all involved. For those that don’t live in Pakistan, it is often hard to comprehend what it must be like, but the scale of disaster has rivaled that of the Tsunami in 2004, the Kashmir earthquake in 2005 and the Haiti earthquake in 2010. People need urgent help and aid just isn’t getting through fast enough.
In terms of what flood restoration can be done, it’s all about giving people back their livelihoods and making the best of what they have. Homes are not built like they are in the UK or US, but this has both negative and positive effects. For example, the negative is that they are destroyed in natural disasters but the positive is that they are relatively easy to re-build. The land will have to be dry first because any re-homing can start. Something else to bear in mind is the bad weather that is hitting Pakistan so soon after the flooding – with continued rain it makes it very difficult for people to re-build their lives. The early stages of flood restoration need to be planned well in order to make the process as smooth as possible.
Although the US and UK suffer with flooding, nothing in recent years can be compared to the floods in Pakistan 2010. Thankfully, the UK and US have flood restoration companies available so they can quickly get things back to normal and restore their lives…its just a shame that Pakistan hasn’t been so lucky.