The north-western provinces of Pakistan started flooding after record heavy monsoon rains in late-July. Breaches of the Indus River and irrigation canals caused wide-scale inundation in the adjoining areas, often also obliterating or severely disrupting communication and transport links to the affected areas. At least 36 districts across the country have been severely affected by the floods so far, already making these the worst floods in living memory. Furthermore, the officials have warned that more forecasted rain as well as possible river and canal breaches threaten to deepen the humanitarian disaster. The scale and intensity of the floods can be gauged by the fact that all four provinces and northern regions of the Country have been engulfed by flood waters. The province of Pakhtunkhwa is feared to undergo a second round of flooding while the situation in southern Punjab and Sindh is the most precarious at present.
The flash floods and landslides triggered by the monsoon rain have caused severe damage to infrastructure in
the affected areas. Latest Government figures estimate that over 14 million people have been affected by the floods, more than 300,000 homes are destroyed or severely damaged and more than 1,600 people are reported to have lost their lives. The loss of lives and livelihood may rise further as the situation is likely to get worse because of rising water levels in Indus River. Fresh flood warnings were issued for Muzaffargarh district in Punjab where Indus River has started to exert pressure on embankments, causing thousands of residents to leave the town.
The Government of Pakistan has launched massive rescue and relief operations led by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and its regional arms assisted by Civil and Military personnel, UNHCR, UNICEF, OCHA, WFP and USAID. The Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs of Pakistan advised the International community to go ahead with preparing for a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA). The World Bank’s South Asia Region including the Pakistan Country Office is closely monitoring the situation in close collaboration with Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The World Bank is reviewing how it can restructure its existing program portfolio in Pakistan to assist in flood recovery and reconstruction.
The GFDRR has initially pledged $200,000 for emergency assistance and preparedness and $100,000 to support a Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) while more pledges are expected to support the overall recovery and reconstruction planning. GFDRR is also mobilising additional experts and will help country team mobilize donor support for early recovery operations. Pakistan is one of the priority country supported by Government of Japan under GFDRR's Disaster Risk Management Program. Various GFDRR donors such as Australia, Germany, Luxembourg and Sweden have also committed monetary and human resource support towards the PDNA. A World Bank/GFDRR scoping and planning mission is being deployed to Islamabad to initiate the PDNA process in close coordination with EC, UN and other international partners and subsequently assist the country team in donor coordination as well as resource mobilization for recovery activities.
(Photo credit - Home page: A. Latif-Reuters; Above: M.Sajjad-AP)