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

5.2.2.2 Analyzing vulnerable households
Fig. 5.30 reveals that there are four households that have a very high VCI score of 80 and
above. Two of them are living in Gafoor Noonari which seemed to be the part of Alloo
Noonari with the most vulnerable households. The driving factor behind these most
vulnerable households is the involvement in bonded labour conditions. Three of these
households do not own any land, while one household only owns one acre of land. The
main income source of these households is sharecropping or wage labour. One head of
household suffers from Tuberculosis and has to stay at home all day. Households in Gafoor
Noonari seem to be more vulnerable than others, as both of interviewed households in that
muhalla are among the most vulnerable households. None of the households on Gafoor
Noonari own more than one acre land. Additionally, they are not represented in the village
council. However, also less vulnerable have been heavily affected by the flood, as the
example provided in Box 14 illustrates.
Box 13: A vulnerable female-headed household in Gafoor Muhalla
Sakina is the female head of a small household
with four members living on Gafoor muhalla.
She was abandonded by her husband four years
ago, who married another women and left
Sakina and his daughter Bakhudwira (16) and
two sons (15, 13). Sakina’s main income source
is not secure as she is able to work only
irregularly on the fields of other people, thereby
earning 200-300 Rs per day. Her very erratic and
unreliable income is the main cause for the high
vulnerability of her household (VCI value 87),
making it the most vulnerable in the survey
population of Alloo Noonari. The two water
buffaloes she owned before the flood provided
her household with a small but regular income.
She sold four liters of milk earning 80 Rs per
day. Milk production however shrunk due to
losing a water buffaloe during the flood. She
also lost her house, furniture and kitchen
equipment. When she came back she collected
the remaining wooden beams and constructed
her makeshift house. While she could use the
hand pump on her own muhalla before, she now
55
has to ask in the neighbouring muhalla for water.
Additionally to all these difficulties she
accumulated debts in the amount of 20,000 Rs.
Source: photograph ©�Martin Enzner, February
22, 2011
The children of Sakina in front of their
makeshift house with other children of
Gafoor Noonari