ISLAMABAD: The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has announced it is preparing to undertake an assessment of employment and livelihood losses caused by flooding in Pakistan.

The organisation said it is working on Post-Disaster Needs Assessment of Pakistan to identify jobs and employment losses and impact on livelihood together with the World Bank, the UN and the European Union.

The ILO has finalised decent work priorities in the country over the next five years (2023-27) in consultations with the federal government, provincial departments of labour, employers’ and workers’ organisations and other important stakeholders.

The World Health Organisation has already released $10 million from its Contingency Fund for Emer­gency to deliver essential medicines and other supplies.

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in its situation report says the humanitarian situation remains dire in flood-affected areas, with widespread damage to physical infrastructure and ongoing harm to people and livestock.

Over the past week, roads reported to be damaged or destroyed nationwide nearly doubled to over 12,700 kilometres while the number of bridges reported damaged or destroyed increased to 375.

The impact of the heavy rains and floods on production in the agricultural sector and on market prices has been severe across the country, even in areas spared by floods, risking deterioration in the food security situation.

In some parts of the country, the price of a kilogram of rice has risen by nearly 80 per cent since January.

Nearly 936,000 livestock have been lost since mid-June, with serious repercussions on the livelihoods of affected households and on the supply of milk and meat.

An Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis of 28 highly vulnerable districts in Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtun­khwa found that some 5.96m people in the assessed districts were estimated to be in IPC Phase 3 (crisis) and 4 (emergency) between July and November — a figure expected to go up to 7.2m people from December this year to March 2023.

The prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) is high in Balochistan and Sindh, with both exceeding the emergency thresholds in some districts, and is expected to deteriorate due to impact of the floods.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2022