Weeks after the waters have receded in Pakistan the crisis remains. Crop land and livestock have been destroyed, distinctions between farms have been erased, schools are flooded and empty, and infrastructure has been washed away. According to the BBC's Aleem Maqbool, at least 1,750 people have been killed and at least ten million people are internally displaced.
The people of Pakistan need every type of aid imaginable. How can this aid be distributed effectively? Pakistan's own President remained on vacation in Europe for the first two weeks of the crisis. Can he be counted on to handle aid responsibly? The army and militant groups offer to assist those in need. Do these groups see a recruiting opportunity? Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been in Pakistan since the beginning of the crisis. How do they distribute aid when the arteries of the nation have been severed? If the governments of other nations want to send aid, to whom will they send it?
Clearly, it is not a post-crisis time in Pakistan. This is the next stage of a crisis. When this stage is over, where will the farmers go? How will people determine whose land is where? How much have the floods shifted the physical geography of Pakistan? Will militant groups gain momentum?
These are some of the questions we are pursuing in this course. Questions that have very difficult answers.
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