Perceived needs versus actual needs: Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs (HESPER) adaptation in post-flood need assessment in Pakistan

The post-flood relief and recovery activities in the Punjab region of Pakistan provide an informative case to reflect on the need for realistic need assessment in humanitarian fields. Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs (HESPER) survey tool, designed by the World Health Organization for low-income countries, was administered in the three most flood-prone cities of the province of Punjab, Pakistan. Social network analysis was conducted to assess the needs perceived as the most critical needs of the affected populations in the post-flood fields. Two types of centrality figures are reported, degree centrality to depict the most critical needs and betweenness centrality to depict the needs that have the potential to impede people's attention to other needs. The results indicate that there are no formal needs assessments conducted by the government. The administration of HESPER revealed that the actual needs of the affected population are significantly different from the ones perceived as necessary by relief agencies. The affected populations reported needs that were very different and unique to their contextual requirements. The adapted HESPER version is proposed as a more suitable version for the South Asian countries based on geographical and demographic similarities.