HUMAN development is the inevitable casualty of natural disasters. The devastating blow to the health, education, drinking water, sanitation and housing infrastructure deprives people of services which constitute the pillars of human development. Pakistan, already on the lower rungs of human development, suffered a massive setback on account of the 2022 floods. The Planning Commission’s Post Disaster Need Assessment report paints a bleak picture: its preliminary estimates show that between 8.4 and 9.1 million people are likely to be pushed into poverty and an additional 1.9m households into non-monetary poverty.
Sindh was the worst-affected province in the floods. Approximately 70 per cent of the countrywide damage occurred in that province. The Sindhi Association of North America recently organised a daylong conference in Karachi. The state of human development in Sindh came under the scrutiny of development sector experts, government officials and civil society professionals. Compelling facts on various sectors of human development were presented at the conference. It was revealed in one session how the flood aggravated the ordeal of over 12m people in the province.
Even before the floods lashed Sindh, human development indices........