OBJECTIVES
Objectives of the study will be:
·
To examine
the sociological and emotional impact of disaster on left behind family.
·
To examine
the role of NGOs and International NGOs in the rehabilitation of the affected
families.
·
To give
policy recommendation for the proper rehabilitation of the affected families.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Disaster has been defined by the United Nations International Strategy
for Disaster Reduction as cited in UNOCHA & IDMC, (2009) thus:
A serious disruption
of the functioning of a community or a society causing widespread human,
material, economic or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the
affected community or society to cope using its own resources. A disaster is a function
of the risk process. It results from the combination of hazards, conditions of
vulnerability and insufficient capacity or measures to reduce the potential
negative consequences of risk. (p.6)
Flood is one of the worst natural
disasters in the world it is “too much water in the wrong place… and happens
more often, last longer, and strike more places than many other kinds of disasters”
resulting in vast displacement of individuals. The floods affecters are not
only encounter unexpected overflow of water in their lands but also “lead to
other disasters that are worse than deepwater”
The impact of
disasters is usually measured in quantifiable ways, such as adding
up the
number of the dead and injured, and estimating the physical damage to housing,
land,
livestock, agriculture, stores and infrastructure. But attention is not
necessarily paid
to how
disasters impact on different categories of people, men, women, children, aged
people,
etc. Disasters affect men and women
differently because of the different roles
they
occupy and the different responsibilities given to them in life and because of
the
differences
in their capacities, needs and vulnerabilities. Family size may change at
household
level due to disasters. (Mwapte
p. 2009, p.20)
Floods affect
human life both directly and indirectly in almost all spheres of life and
activities. The tangible and intangible effects of numerous. Humans are
affected economically, socially, and emotionally. The most notable and clear
effects of floods are “property damage, income losses, and emergency costs …
other includes roads and bridges may be impassable during a flood, increasing
the expense and time of travel through or around flood areas” (Moser, 1994, p.
516); however, these effects have great emotionally and sociological
implication for the affecters.
Emotional and sociological effects
are the intangible effects of flooding which are “real but are difficult to
assign a monetary value to” (Moser, 1994, p. 517). These include educational
accessibility, social contacts, family dispersion, emotional trauma that may
occur. This can be witnessed in the form of “sleep disorders and emotional
anxiety” (Moser, 1994, p. 517).
The one-fifth
of the entire country land was flooded in Pakistan about the end of July, 2010
due to heavy monsoon rains across the country, greatly affected the Indus river
basin (BBC News Online (16 August 2010) & Goodwin, n. d.) that caused 2.9 billion dollars of
agricultural damage which includes lost of cotton crop, sugar cane, rice and
wheat as well as animal fodder besides the stored grain losses (Collins, (13.8.2010) & Anis & (12.8.2010). The loss in crops also
affects the country’s largest manufacturing industry of textile. More than 10
million livestock has perished away and million acre of agricultural land
caused reduction in agricultural productivity. Besides the agricultural and its
related damages, about 5.3 million jobs have been affected due to flood in
Pakistan (ILO, sep 7, 2010) and the GDP growth rate as was 4% before the flood
occurring will be – 2% to – 5% and hence it would be difficult for Pakistan to
meet IMF’s target budget deficit of 5.1 % of GDP and debt will on rise thus
(Karamat, 2010).
Comments
Post a Comment