ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has mobilized $350,000 from the World Heritage Emergency Assistance and the Heritage Emergency Fund to assist in the needs assessment and recovery of cultural sites and displaced cultural professionals in Sindh, Baluchistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Heavy monsoon rainfall caused widespread flooding in Pakistan resulting in significant loss of life, livelihoods, and shelter. The natural disaster also severely damaged cultural heritage sites across the country, said a UNESCO press release on Thursday.
Under the Heritage Emergency Fund, UNESCO Islamabad is undertaking a detailed needs assessment of tangible and intangible cultural heritage in selected flood-hit districts of the country, to identify the most severely affected cultural professionals in need of rehabilitation.
UNESCO Islamabad leads Culture Sector analysis
In October 2022, the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) was launched under the leadership of the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives. UNESCO Islamabad led the Culture Sector analysis, with technical assistance from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), World Bank and Asian Development Bank, marking the first time “Culture has been analysed” as a separate sector for a PDNA in Pakistan, the release added.
Under the World Heritage Centre Emergency Assistance, UNESCO is conducting a damage assessment of the World Heritage Sites of Makli and Moenjodaro in Sindh, in collaboration with the Culture, Tourism, Antiquities, and Archives Department of the Government of Sindh.
In October 2022, a two-member team comprising Jawad Aziz, National Professional Officer from the UNESCO Islamabad Office, and Thierry Joffroy, a consultant and conservation expert on earthen architecture, visited Moenjodaro (Larkana, Sindh) to assess the impact of the rainfall, and meet local authorities to plan the next steps for stabilization and recovery of the site.
The team identified that rainwater drainage systems were unable to handle the increased volume of heavy rainfall during the monsoon season, resulting in extensive structural damage. The initial visit identified urgent short-term measures to ensure stabilization against further damage, and long-term interventions to protect the site against new risks created by the rainfall.
In January 2023, the UNESCO team comprising of Cristina Menegazzi, Culture and Heritage Expert and Jawad Aziz, National Professional Officer accompanied consultant Thierry Joffroy for a second visit to Moenjodaro, to guide the Moenjodaro management team on stabilisation of the affected structures. Alongside government officials, students from selected universities were also invited to gain valuable field experience in conservation methods.
UNESCO team inspects circular drain
The UNESCO team inspected the circular drain around the site, which has been blocked with silt, mud and wild growth in many places and not functioning properly. The team also visited the conservation laboratory on-site, where water and soil are tested before being used for conservation work. It also visited the Great Bath to examine the tunnel drain of the Bath which was damaged due to the runoff water coming from the southern side and recommended that only the wall should be stabilised to prevent further damage at the moment.
Archaeological records must be consulted to understand the original structure before any long-term restoration work is carried out.
Later in January, the Director of UNESCO Islamabad Youssef Filali-Meknassi and Mariam Farooqi, National Project Officer, visited the Makli Necropolis (Thatta, Sindh) for an initial assessment of the damages caused by heavy rainfall, and the urgent stabilisation measures carried out by the site management team.
Detailed needs assessment and identification of short- and long-term measures for the recovery and strengthening of Makli against future natural disasters will be carried out by Cristina Menegazzi, UNESCO Culture and Heritage Expert, and Rand Eppich, consultant Conservation Architect, and the site management team in March 2023. –APP
