Kot Adu, Muzaffargarh, Punjab: Contrary to the common perception of Punjab being the most prosperous province of the country, Southern Punjab is home to some of the most impoverished citizens of the country.  In the recent monsoon floods, Muzaffargarh was also one of the worst affected districts of the province due to its location between the rivers of Chenab and Indus.  The devastation was evident during our visit to Muzaffargarh – Kot Adu. Home to one of the most famous folk singer Pathanay Khan, Kot Adu is considered one of the literary cities in Southern Punjab.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has provided US$ 5,397,300 to the United Nations Development Programme to support the agency relief efforts for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Pakistan.

Qubo Saeed Khan, Qambar Shahdatkot, Sindh - It is not every day that one can see a poor handicapped village girl in a typically male dominated society working on painting houses and community buildings. This could hardly have been possible in normal circumstances anywhere in Sindh much less in the far flung village Safal Solangi, in the Qubo Saeed Khan area of Shahdatkot in north-western reaches of the province. However, the floods of July-August 2010 have drastically changed the dynamics across the country.

As Pakistan’s response to the floods of July 2010 moves from relief  to early recovery, the focus of assistance will be towards rebuilding livelihoods, rehabilitating basic and critical physical infrastructure, restoring health, education and water and sanitation services  while targeting the most vulnerable and marginalized across the flood-affected districts. Approximately 20 million people and an area of 100,000 sq km was adversely affected with 1.6 million houses damaged/destroyed in last year’s floods.