ACF International’s Emergency Response to the Pakistan Floods in August 2010

The floods which swept across Pakistan between late-July and September 2010 are considered to be one of the most significant disasters of modern history. Although the death toll was relatively small (estimated to be 1,950 people) the geographic extent of the damage they caused was staggering; affecting over 20 million people, it was the largest disaster ever recorded in terms of affected area, affected people and houses damaged1 and at one stage covered one-fifth of Pakistan’s land mass.
The International humanitarian response was all too often characterised as far too late to be considered life-saving with only a few exceptions and can best be described as providing a second wave of support. While this asks important questions about the capacity of the International humanitarian system, lack of funding in the early stages of the response and the deployment of large numbers of agency staff to Haiti all played an important role in delaying the response.