VZCZCXRO6524
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #3296/01 2120614
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 310614Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0768
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT PRIORITY 2802
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA PRIORITY 0253
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK PRIORITY 4310
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO PRIORITY 1418
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA PRIORITY 2189
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 7373
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU PRIORITY 8683
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 6088
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1466
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT PRIORITY 3547
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 3309
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI PRIORITY 6868
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA PRIORITY 0951
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE PRIORITY 3001
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 3700
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 1415
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 2741
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ISLAMABAD 003296 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AID/ANE FOR: NMADHAV, RSTEELMAN 
 
AID/OFDA FOR: RTHAYER, TDOLAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PGOV PK
SUBJECT: SITUATION REPORT #2 - CYCLONE YEMYIN 
 
 
-------- 
Summary 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  A USAID Office of Foreign Disaster 
Assistance (OFDA) Regional Advisor (RA) visited 
Pakistan from July 10 through 17 to assess additional 
needs following Cyclone Yemyin in Pakistan.  To date 
362 people have died in flooding and up to 2.5 million 
people have been affected.  In addition to the 
USD 390,000 provided through the AmbassadorQs Emergency 
Fund and OFDA to Mercy Corps for emergency response, 
the RA recommends that OFDA provide an additional USD 
1.6 million for emergency shelter, water and 
sanitation, and disease surveillance in Pakistan. 
USAID/OFDA will continue to monitor needs of affected 
communities and will make further recommendations on 
needs for livelihoods and IDP returns. 
 
----------------- 
General Situation 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Four days of drenching rains brought on by 
Cyclone Yemyin that began June 26, 2007 triggered a 
severe weather system that caused widespread flooding 
in the Pakistan provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. 
An estimated 2.5 million people have been affected by 
the flooding with 362 people dead, 195 missing and 
over 377,000 people displaced.  According to the 
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 2,855 
schools, 292 health facilities and 5,197 kilometers of 
roads have been damaged.  In Balochistan, 23 of 29 
districts have been affected while in Sindh 5 of 25 
districts are affected. 
 
¶3.  (U) Many of the affected areas are in arid 
districts where infrastructure has focused on water 
retention rather than water drainage.  These 
structures have contributed to flooding problems with 
many damaged levees preventing a rapid recession of 
flood waters.  This is particularly troubling as the 
Monsoon season is just beginning.  It is estimated 
that some communities will need emergency assistance 
for up to 60 days. 
 
---------------- 
Health/Nutrition 
---------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Thus far, UNICEF and WHO are reporting no 
outbreaks of epidemic disease.  There are reports that 
skin problems and eye infections are common.  The 
potential for diarrhea outbreaks exists due to hygiene 
issues and lack of potable water.  The UN Health 
Cluster reports that there is a potential for malaria 
as mosquito larva mature over the next few weeks in 
flooded areas.  Plans are being made for mosquito 
fogging, and the Government of Pakistan (GoP) has 
distributed 60,000 bed nets.  Pakistan appears to have 
enough medicine in-country to handle medical needs. 
WHO is setting up a disease monitoring and warning 
system to locate and respond to any disease outbreaks 
 
ISLAMABAD 00003296  002 OF 004 
 
 
in the flood-affected areas. 
 
¶5.  (U) NGOs report that the already poor nutritional 
status of the rural populations in the flood-affected 
areas will be further exacerbated by anything less 
than a robust response to food needs following the 
floods.  (NOTE: The GoP has taken responsibility for 
providing and distributing food assistance and offers 
of support by WFP have so far not been accepted.  END 
NOTE) 
 
------- 
Shelter 
------- 
 
¶6.  (U) Every assessment conducted thus far has listed 
shelter, along with water and sanitation, as the 
primary needs of flood affected people.  IFRC 
estimates that a total of 167,500 houses have been 
damaged in Sindh and Balochistan.  The GoP has 
distributed thousands of tents and originally had 
plans to distribute up to 100,000 tents.  This seems 
to have been based on the fact that most flood 
affected people requested tents, but because of the 
extreme heat in the area at this time of the year, few 
people are sheltering in them.  Along with the UN 
Shelter Cluster, the GoP is now prioritizing tarps and 
framing materials over tents for distribution to the 
flood-affected people.  Most people live in self- 
constructed houses of mud and wood materials and 
should be able to rebuild their own homes once the 
flood waters recede.  A compensation package of 15,000 
Rupees (approximately USD 250) has been promised to 
families who have lost their houses to assist with 
their immediate needs, and an additional 75,000 Rupees 
(approximately USD 1,250) will be given to each 
household for the reconstruction of their home. 
 
---------------- 
Water/Sanitation 
---------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) Water and sanitation are the other main 
emergency need areas.  People are often stranded along 
dykes or on high areas surrounded by water.  Most 
water points have been inundated and many people have 
been drinking turbid flood water.  Without proper 
sanitation the surrounding water will become, if it is 
not already, full of pathogens.  A first priority of 
the GoP response was to get clean drinking water to 
people by providing bottled water and/or re-mediating 
tube wells and water points. 
 
¶8.  (U) Sanitation is a critical problem but cannot be 
solved merely by providing latrines.  As was the case 
in the earthquake response, local people are more used 
to open defecation, and training/awareness raising 
will likely be required to persuade them to use pit 
latrines.  There are also issues pertaining to women 
and their sanitation needs as discussed further under 
the Protection Issues section. 
 
----------------- 
 
ISLAMABAD 00003296  003 OF 004 
 
 
Protection Issues 
----------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Many of the flood-affected communities have 
very particular traditions concerning the treatment of 
women.  It will therefore be necessary for all 
responders to understand these complexities in order 
not to put women at unnecessary risk.  Nowhere is this 
more true that in the provision of sanitation 
facilities for women.  All NGOs responding in the 
sanitation sector will need to develop a strategy for 
addressing protection issues for women. 
 
------------------- 
Government Response 
------------------- 
 
¶10.  (U) Initially the GOP was reluctant to accept 
international and NGO assistance.  This delayed non- 
government response for several days.  However, the 
GoP dedicated over 15,000 military personnel, 24 
helicopters, and several C-130 aircraft to the relief 
operation.  The GoP has flown over 116 C-130 sorties 
providing over 13,000 tons of relief items.  Mobile 
medical teams have also been dispatched to address 
health needs.  NDMA said that 31 relief camps are 
established in Dadu, and 73 in Qamber-Shahdadkot 
districts where a total of 56,268 patients have been 
treated so far.  A GoP official has stated that 29,690 
people are living in relief camps in Sindh and 13,000 
in 20 camps in Balochistan. 
 
¶11.  (U) The GoP has allocated  1.131 billion Rupees 
(approximately USD 18.8 million) to compensate losses 
incurred by the flood-affected people near Mirani Dam, 
in the Kech District, Balochistan.  This sum is in 
addition to the 300 million Rupees (approximately USD 
5 million) which the Provincial Government of 
Balochistan has allocated to compensate the affected 
population. 
 
¶12.  (U) Due to the timely warning by the NDMA on June 
23, following reports by the Pakistan Meteorological 
Office, hundreds of lives of fishermen were saved as 
the local and district governments prevented fishermen 
from proceeding to the open seas.  Having provided 
this warning is a credit to PakistanQs fledgling 
disaster management system.  NDMA said it is fully co- 
coordinating relief activities in flood-hit areas of 
Sindh and Balochistan.  NDMA states that all 
allocations are being handled through the Provincial 
Disaster Management Authorities, and that NDMA is only 
a coordinating authority. 
 
¶13.  (U) The GoP has taken on full responsibility for 
supplying and distributing food and has declined 
offers of assistance from WFP.  While Pakistan 
certainly has the capability to respond to these 
needs, many in the disaster response community are 
concerned that food is still showing up as an urgent 
need in several district assessments. 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
ISLAMABAD 00003296  004 OF 004 
 
 
International Community Response 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶14.  (U) Though perplexed by GoPQs initial hesitation 
to allow international assistance in response to 
Cyclone Yemyin, the UN moved rapidly once permission 
was granted.  The Cluster System piloted by the UN 
during the Pakistan Earthquake response was quickly 
put into place and supported the development of the UN 
Flash Appeal.  An UNDAC Team was also quickly deployed 
to Pakistan.  The UN is to be congratulated for 
working with the GoP to deploy a joint rapid 
assessment teams made up of GoP, International 
Organizations, and International NGO personnel.  This 
contributed to a more informed Flash Appeal and saved 
significant resources and duplication by avoiding an 
endless series of individual agency assessments.  It 
will be important to make additional joint assessments 
to better understand the changing needs of the 
affected community and any gaps in assistance. 
 
¶15.  (U) While an effective tool for coordination, 
there are some in the donor community who question the 
Cluster System as a process in its ability to 
distinguish the most urgent emergency needs from less 
urgent needs.  Not doing so can lead to inordinately 
large appeals.  While donors can pick and choose which 
programs to fund under the Flash Appeal, as was seen 
in the earthquake response, the Flash Appeal can come 
to be seen as the single indicator of the size and 
robustness of the international response; although a 
significant portion of international funding is 
provided outside the Flash Appeal process. 
 
--------------- 
Recommendations 
--------------- 
 
¶16.  (U) In addition to the USD 390,000 in emergency 
assistance provided by the AmbassadorQs Emergency fund 
and USAID/OFDA to Pakistan through Mercy Corps, the 
Regional Advisor recommends that an additional USD 1.6 
million be provided for shelter, water and sanitation, 
and disease surveillance.  Particularly in the 
provision of assistance for water and sanitation, OFDA 
should ensure that grantees provide a protection plan 
for addressing womenQs needs. 
 
¶17.  (U) USAID/OFDA will continue to monitor the needs 
of the flood-affected population and will make further 
recommendations on livelihood and IDP return issues 
when more detailed assessments are completed. 
 
PATTERSON