ReliefWeb

The IOM-led Pakistan Shelter Cluster today published new data showing that over 13,000 people do not expect to be able to return home to villages inundated by the 2011 Sindh floods for several months.

The greatest concentration of displaced people remains in Umerkot, Mirpur Khas and Sangar districts, according to the survey by the IOM Temporary Settlement Support Unit (TSSU.).

"What's concerning us is the percentage of people who said that they won't be able to return for a month, three months, or even longer. Roughly 74% of families we interviewed expected to stay for more than 1 month and half of these families indicated they will need to stay longer than 3 months," explains TSSU Coordinator Mil Illangasinghe.

The main reasons families gave for being unable to return home were standing water preventing access to their village and lack of support to rebuild their homes or restart their livelihoods.

The need for scaling up of early recovery aid to enable people to return home and stay was highlighted at the launch of the Pakistan Floods Early Recovery Framework on 14th February.

The humanitarian community is appealing for USD 440 million to scale up early recovery interventions across the 23 flood-affected districts, where an estimated 5.4 people have been affected.

The Shelter Cluster reports that committed funding will now only meet about 17% of what is needed. It emphasizes the need to help families build an early recovery shelter before the monsoon arrives in Sindh and Balochistan in roughly four months time.

IOM is appealing for USD 29 million to meet urgent early recovery needs including one room shelter support, community restoration, health service provision, humanitarian communications, preparedness for the upcoming monsoon season, support to local government, private sector engagement and security training for aid workers.