After the Flood in Pakistan 38 Berlin Geographical Papers - Freie ...

A major finding of the assessment thus clearly points to the fact that a vast majority of
households across villages and districts has to endure very high degrees of livelihood insecurity
that have increased significantly after the flood event. Especially small farmers and
landless sharecroppers who lost their livestock and the summer crop were identified as
particularly vulnerable and represent an important beneficiary group for targeted livelihood
interventions.
Box 1: Realities behind numbers. Household representations of different VCI values
VCI value -4: household security through
regularity of income
M. Khan is a retired army person with multiple
income sources in Ahmed Raju, Badin. Most
important is the regular pension, which allowed
him to invest in the husbandry of goats and
agricultural land. His possessions make him an
influential person, the fact of which is
represented in his position as the vice-president
of the village council.
VCI value 53: animal husbandry keeps the
household afloat
M. Varoo is a sharecropper without own land in
Ahmed Sorjho, Thatta. All household members
help in the cultivation, and the women contribute
to the household income through tailoring. In the
flood they lost their house and two cows and
buffaloes plus a wooden cart, but they managed
to save three buffaloes and two cows still. Today,
these animals represent their major assets which
keep the household afloat. However, with the
autumn season destroyed and not being able to
start cultivation in the spring season, they were
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forced to take on larger debts which increased
dependency to their landlord. Also, M. Varoo
still worries about how he will be able to manage
the rebuilding of shelter for his eight-headed
household.
VCI value 91: the fate of the most vulnerable
Didar Qambrani is a bonded labourer on two
acres in the village Mehrab Qambrani in Dadu.
Before the flood he was able to manage his
livelihoods by virtue of his one buffalo and five
goats and his donkey plus wooden cart that
allowed him to compensate for his meagre share
of the harvest in his sharecropping arrangement.
However, in the flood he lost all of his productive
assets and went into high debts to both his
landlord and the donkey cart seller whom he still
owed money for the wooden cart he used to
transport goods for others. Now he lives in a tent
with his wife and three children, and the only
income he makes is from occasional wage labour
in the urban bazaar of the nearby road town
Kakar.
Differences in individual situations inside and between villages are described in the village
profiles provided in chapter five of this report. Explanations for the differences encountered
can be found when looking at the composition of each index-value, which also points
to the virtues of working with a quantified vulnerability index to inform development practice
(cf. Mustafa et al. 2011):
� The vulnerability dimensions of the VCI give direction for interventions aimed at
strengthening household capacities
� The VCI represents a tool for comparative analysis and makes households and
villages comparable