Current Flood Situation in Pakistan

  Current Flood Situation in Pakistan 

Heavy rainfall and flooding over the past week have worsened the fragile humanitarian situation of people in already affected areas and brought devastation to areas previously spared the brunt of the harsh monsoon weather. GilgitBaltistan (GB) province has declared “calamity affected” districts for the first time this season and the number of districts declared calamity in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has almost doubled. Nationwide, 80 districts have now been declared "calamity hit" - 31 in Balochistan, 23 in Sindh, 17 in KP, six in GB and three in Punjab. Many more districts are also reportedly affected without an official announcement. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), around 33 million people have been affected by the heavy rains and floods. More than 470,000 people live in collective settlements, with many more displaced and housed in other households.

Sindh and Balochistan remain the two provinces that have received the most rainfall this monsoon, each more than 5.5 times their respective 30-year average. More than 1.1 million homes have now been damaged or destroyed, with the number of destroyed homes doubling to more than 436,000 and the number of damaged homes rising 63 percent to more than 736,000.

This increase was most pronounced in Balochistan, where the number of damaged and destroyed houses rose from around 29,800 to more than 61,000; in Sindh, where over 896,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, compared to over 586,000 a week ago; and in KP, where the number has almost quadrupled to more than 76,000 houses damaged or destroyed as of mid-June 2022.

Access remains a major barrier to aid delivery and people's ability to flee to safer places. Two thousand kilometers of roads and 98 bridges were damaged or destroyed in the last week, for a total of over 5,000 km and 243 bridges damaged or destroyed in the last 2.5 months. Most of this increase was due to KP, which reported nearly 1,600 km of damaged and destroyed roads as of September 1, up from just 7 km a week earlier. The railway was also affected. Destroyed railway bridges, submerged tracks and landslides disrupted routes connecting Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab, including sections between Quetta and Taftan; between Quetta and Habibkot via Sibbi; between Hyderabad and Multan via Rohri; and between Kotri to Dadu via Lakhi Shah.

The inclement weather continued to take a direct toll on human lives, with more than 1,200 people reported to have died, including 244 women, 526 men and 416 children. Nearly 4,900 people were reportedly injured, including at least 2,670 women, 1,281 men and 816 children. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) says high flood risks remain in the stretch of the Indus River between Taunsa in Punjab and Kotri in Sindh, while the satellite-detected extent of water mapped by the United Nations Satellite Center (UNOSAT) tentatively indicates 793,000 km2. of land in Pakistan analyzed between August 1 and 29, about 75,000 km2 appears to be affected by floodwater, including about 48,530 km2 that appears to be arable land. Initial estimates on the ground indicate that at least 3.6 million acres of crops/orchards across the country have already been affected, including over 35,500 acres in KP, 304,000 acres in Balochistan, 438,000 acres in Punjab and 2.85 million acres in Sindh. The livestock sector also suffered severe losses, with more than 733,000 livestock reportedly killed as of September 1 – 68 percent in Balochistan and 28 percent in Punjab.

Preliminary information indicates major damage to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure. According to initial estimates, about 20 percent of water systems are damaged in KP, about 30 percent in Balochistan and up to 50 percent in the worst affected areas of Sindh and Punjab. In Balochistan's Lasbela district, 19 water systems were reportedly damaged due to floods. The extent of reported damage in flood-affected areas requires further verification. Access to safe drinking water is a serious problem and communities are increasingly resorting to open defecation, increasing the risk of water- and sanitation-related diseases. Cases of diarrhea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infections and skin diseases have already been reported.