Families who have begun leaving camps and temporary shelters have returned to find that their homes are no longer inhabitable, leading to a “secondary wave of displacement”, according to the statement. – Photo by AP (File)

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority has said the relief phase of the national flood response will end on Jan 31 even though at least 150,000 flood-affected people still live in camps and other improvised settlements in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

“Six months on from the devastating flooding in Pakistan, more than four million people remain in a desperate situation without adequate shelter,” said the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in a statement issued in Geneva on Friday.

Families who have begun leaving camps and temporary shelters have returned to find that their homes are no longer inhabitable, leading to a “secondary wave of displacement”, according to the statement.

The UN says a majority of the flood survivors living in camps --- 75 per cent of them --- belong to Sindh.

Though these figures do not include displaced people who have returned to their areas of origin, they are still unable to access their homes because of stagnant water or damage to buildings and therefore continue to depend upon emergency shelter and other relief support, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance says in its latest update on the situation.

The report says there are approximately 250 camps and spontaneous settlements hosting 170,000 people in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Slightly more than 75 per cent of the total comes from Sindh.

As a transitional measure, an integrated package including a tent, NFI kit and winterisation support has been developed to support people.

The UN report says that planning for a village profiling exercise in Sindh, led by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority and UNHCR, was at an advanced stage, with training of enumerators ongoing and data collection due to begin in Thatta district shortly.

Geographical priorities for village profiling in Punjab using multi-cluster rapid needs assessment tool have been agreed upon and data collection is due to begin by the first week of February.

A national survey of needs at the community level is also planned for February as a means of monitoring progress as well as informing the mid-term review of the Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan, the report says.

In the agriculture sector, distribution of animal compound feed and de-wormers will start in the last week of January in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,000 households have already been reached.

A total of 297,000 livestock-owning families will benefit. Distribution has started in Sindh and Punjab. Over 53,000 families have benefited so far.

Cash-for-work projects to support rehabilitation of irrigation watercourses will begin next month. Just over 1,000 systems are being targeted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.