Plan gets to work on Cyclone Phet recovery

Cyclone “Phet” made landfall north of Karachi, Pakistan on June 6, leaving 15 dead and displacing nearly 500,000 others. No Plan-sponsored communities were directly impacted by the storm, however, the coastal district of Thatta, where Plan had been running disaster risk reduction project, was hard hit.

A rapid assessment conducted by one of Plan’s partners in Thatta found that the area’s immediate needs are for food, water, materials for repairing damaged homes, and transportation assistance where roads have been washed out.

The coastal region had been experiencing drought-like conditions over the last couple years and Phet’s 12-14 foot storm surge only further compounded hardships by contaminating drinking water and low-lying farmland. Cases of children with waterborne illnesses are being reported, and are expected to rise as families return home only to find contaminated wells that will need to be pumped and cleaned to make water safe for drinking.

Plan Response

Plan is actively working with its local partners to procure the basic necessities for the internally displaced living in camps. Clean drinking water is being transferred from great distances due to the runoff contamination of the nearby canals. Portable latrines are being brought in to ease the sanitation crisis. It is estimated that the majority of the displaced families will need up to two weeks of food rations each to get through the worst of the crisis.

Currently all normal lines of communication, including sponsorship correspondence, with Plan sponsored communities are operational and no Plan staff or partners have been directly affected by the storm.