were in dire need of assistance, as they had become homeless, injured,
malnourished, or ill. A greater number of people were affected by this one
disaster than by three previous disasters combined: the 2004 Indian Ocean
tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
Just as it had done during the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, the Pakistan military
again played a pivotal operational and coordination role throughout the
humanitarian response to the 2010 disaster. However, the interaction between
the Pakistan military and the humanitarian community became much more
problematic in 2010 than 2005 – due to ongoing military operations in areas of
Pakistan adjacent to Afghanistan, emergent geopolitical pressures, and differing
opinions and approaches among humanitarian agencies regarding the context in
which they were operating in 2010.
Ironically, just a few months prior to the 2010 Pakistan floods, the humanitarian
community had undertaken a major initiative with regard to civil-military
interaction for future operations in Pakistan. This initiative was the "Draft
Guidelines for Civil-military Coordination in Pakistan," which was developed by
the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and then
adopted by the UN Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Pakistan in March
2010. Within the humanitarian community, these guidelines were widely thought
to be detailed, useful, and thorough. However, Pakistani authorities would not
approve of the guidelines because they had not been consulted during the
drafting of this document.
Nonetheless, international humanitarian a gencies responded to the Pakistan
flood disaster with overwhelming support. The Pakistan military itself quickly
became engaged in extensive operations to rescue stranded individuals,
evacuate communities to safer locations, and distribute relief supplies to isolated
populations. For its part, the international humanitarian community also became
heavily engaged with wide-ranging support – from provision of mobile disease
early warning systems to implementation of integrated food, nutrition, water, and
sanitation programs. Millions of Pakistanis were saved from food insecurity –
due largely to the efforts of the World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners,
who planned and executed the distribution of food and water to 3 million people
at the outset of operations in August, then steadily extended distribution to 8
million beneficiaries over the next three months.
However, humanitarian agencies faced significant challenges in broadening
their operations to reach people requiring assistance in outlying areas. Their
presence tended to be concentrated in large towns and heavily populated areas.
This was in part for logistical reasons, but also due to political and security
considerations. Particularly problematic was extending relief into the conflictaffected areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which were close to the
border of Afghanistan. Various other issues related to "humanitarian principles"
and "civil-military interaction" emerged during this particular disaster relief
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