Current dynamics of floods in Pakistan

Situation overview:
Pakistan is facing worst floods in history which started in June 2022. Every province has
been affected and in total 84 districts across the country has been hit by the natural disaster
including Baluchistan (32 districts), Sindh (23 districts) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (17
districts). Sindh is the most affected province.
Deaths and injuries:
The disaster has affected almost 33 million people of which 7.9 million has been displaced.
From June till September more than 1,600 people were killed and almost 12,800 people were
injured due to monsoon flood according to the National Disaster Management Authority
(NDMA).
Infrastructure loss:
Over 2 million homes are affected out of which approximately 767,000 houses are
completely destroyed and 1.3 million are damaged. Additionally 410 bridges are either
affected or destroyed.
Livestock destruction:
The deadly disaster has killed 1.1 million cattle and inundated around 9.4 million acres of
crop area across the country. Pakistan being an agricultural country faced a major economic
loss and food security problems.
Increased poverty:
Poverty rate increased by 4.5 to 7.0 percentage points as a consequence of crop loss and 15.4
million already poor people are pushed into severe poverty.
Current flood status:
According to Pakistan metrological department (PMD) and flood forecasting division (FFD),
all rivers have returned to normal flow expect Tharparkar district of Sindh and Sialkot district
of Punjab as of 26 September. Sindh irrigation department expect all district return to normal
until December.
Climate change:
United Nations has named these floods as ‘unprecedented climate catastrophe’. Although
Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of greenhouse gases emission yet it is one of the
eight most vulnerable nations. (Hesher, 2022) The proof is sudden flash flooding after the
onset of monsoon although Sindh and Baluchistan were enduring moderate drought until last
year.
Main humanitarian needs
Public Health:
Standing water is causing outburst of vector and waterborne diseases and cases of dengue,
malaria, cholera and acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) is increasing among flood-affected
communities. These areas are in dire need of public health services.
Food security:
Loss of livestock and agriculture is causing food insecurity according to Integrated Food
Security Phase Classification (IPC) – 3.82 million in IPC Phase 3 (crisis) and 1.92 million in
IPC Phase 4 (emergency).Global inflation is making further difficulties for poor to access
food.
Shelter and Protection:
Winterization has begun and need for Non-food items (NFI) has increase as one tarpaulin was
given to each household. More help is needed to provide warm and safe living in winter
conditions. Women, minorities, transgender and people with disabilities are at risk of
exploitation or abuse.
Response strategy

Government-led response:
Pakistan government has established National Flood Response and Coordination Centre
(NFRCC) comprising of Federal stakeholders, armed forces and provincial government to
respond to floods. NFRCC is providing services like search-and-rescue, logistics, engineering
support and National disaster management authority (NDMA) is leading Provincial Disaster
Management Authorities (PDMA) and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) in
order to make sure better coordination of response. (OCHA, 2022)
Humanitarian response:
Humanitarian community includes 64 national and 37 international NGOs and approximately
1.6 million people as of September. Additionally, International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement and the UN has also provided assistance.
Civil response:
It is the ground-level community, neighbours and society helping each other in these difficult
time. It includes – local societies, foundations, and madrasas and grassroots responders.
Response plan:
The plan emphasizes Early Recovery components such as livelihood and agricultural support
to make affected population stand on their own feet as soon as possible. Urgent lifesaving
efforts are prioritized especially for the first few months. The plan is also seeing revealed
gaps in existing response. The plan needs US$816 million to aid 9.5 million people with a
focus on 34 most affected districts. US$655 million are the new requirement as of August
2022. Vulnerable people are prioritized.
Recovery and reconstruction:
Beside temporary aid, long-term solutions are also needed which includes climate-resilient
repair and reassembling of physical infrastructure such as homes, educational institutions,
hospitals, roads, dams and other; the repairing of economic and productive infrastructure; and
the re-establishment of social protection and livelihoods. Keeping in mind environmental
destruction, it also demand to oversee the debris from the landslides and the increase in solid
waste that is usual in the aftermath of such crises. Machinery such as generators of different
volt amps, wheel excavators, dumpers and cranes are needed for these actions.
Security from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA):
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) endorse no patience of sexual abuse, and the
Humanitarian country team (HCT) reconfirms its dedication and authority to alleviate risks of
SEA in the response. Main priorities include reinforcing systems for prevention, safe
reporting, and facilitating survivor-centred assistance, certifying swift investigations of
reported cases to make sure of collective accountability.

Works Cited
Hesher, R. (2022, September 19). Climate change likely helped cause deadly Pakistan floods,
scientists find. Retrieved from NPR: https://www.npr.org/2022/09/19/1123798981/climate-
change-likely-helped-cause-deadly-pakistan-floods-scientists-

OCHA. (2022, August 26). Pakistan floods. Retrieved from reliefweb: