Inter-Agency Real Time Evaluation of the Humanitarian ... - OCHANet

Conclusions:
IA RTE of the humanitarian response to Pakistan’s 2010 Floods crisis
84. The humanitarian space was compromised during the response to floods and
displacement crisis.
85. Considering the sheer scale of the emergency, the response was soon stretched to the
limit. As a result coverage was limited and generally poorly prioritize.
86. There is a distinct need to build human and institutional capacity within Pakistani disaster
management structures.
87. Insufficiently qualified international and national human resources were made available
88. International staff turnover represented another constraint affecting the response.
89. The experiences from the Pakistani floods clearly show the need to adapt the response to
the context and conditions on the ground. International standards serve as guidelines for what
should be achieved, but it is clear to all parties that given the extent of the disaster it was
difficult to follow internationally agreed standards and guidelines. Some clusters managed to
agree on adapted standards (Sphere‐related).
90. Military assets were used (both national and international) as civilian assets (air) were
insufficient and physical access constrained. There was not a common position across the
agencies with regards to use of military assets. In areas such as Balochistan and KPK, where the
government is a party to the conflict, these assets should not be used
91. Multi‐sector area based approaches are best suited for disasters of this size as sector
based approaches soon spread thin. Geographic ‐ area based approaches allow for better
coverage and are more adaptive to fast changing situations
Recommendations:
92. The Special Envoy and HC/RC promotes needs based and principled approaches during
humanitarian responses and all Humanitarian actors need to commit to it.
93. To mobilise qualified resources:
� GoP develop a national surge capacity registry (including provincial and district levels)
� OCHA with UN agencies ensure that cluster‐leads are trained (in compulsory web‐based
training before deployment)
� UN agencies, with stand‐by partners, ensure that lengths of contracts of surge deployments
are commensurate to scale and duration of emergencies.
Riccardo Polastro, Aatika Nagrah, Nicolai Steen and Farwa Zafar
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