2022 Pakistan floods

2022 Pakistan floods

File:2022 Pakistan Floods - August 27, 2021 vs. August 27, 2022 in Sindh.jpg Satellite imagery showing a side-by-side comparison of southern Pakistan on 27 August 2021 (one year before the floods) and the province on 27 August 2022
Date	14 June 2022 – present
Location	Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, southern parts of Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Cause	Heavy monsoon rains
Deaths	1,136 402 – Sindh 244 – Balochistan 258 – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 168 – Punjab 41 – Azad Kashmir 22 – Gilgit-Baltistan 1 – Islamabad
Property damage	$10 billion USD (estimates)

Since June 2022, floods in Pakistan caused by climate change, monsoon rains and melting glaciers have killed at least 1,136 people, including 350 children. In August 2022, six military officers were killed in a helicopter crash during a flood relief operation. It is the world's deadliest flood since the 2017 South Asian floods. On 25 August, Pakistan declared a state of emergency because of the flooding. By 29 August, officials said around "one-third" of the country was underwater.

Background

Further information: Climate change in Pakistan

In 2022, Pakistan received higher rainfall than usual. The province of Sindh received 784% higher rain than usual and Balochistan received 500% more rain than normal. Higher than average monsoon rains were also recorded in India and Bangladesh. The Indian Ocean is one of the fastest warming regions in the world, warming by an average of 1°C (as opposed to the global warming average of 0.7°C). The rise in sea surface temperatures is believed to increase monsoon rainfall. In addition, southern Pakistan experienced back-to-back heat waves in May and June, which were record setting and themselves made more likely by climate change. These created a strong thermal low that brought heavier rains than usual. The heatwaves also triggered glacial flooding in Gilgit Baltistan.

Impact

Hundreds of people were killed or injured by flooding. Over 300,000 people are still living in temporary camps (as of August 2022) because of floods. These are the deadliest floods in Pakistan since 2010, when nearly 2,000 died in flooding. Finance Minister of Pakistan, Miftah Ismail says floods inflict at least $10 billion / 2,206 Trillion PKR of damage on Pakistan. Minister of Climate Change Sherry Rehman said on 29 August that "one-third" of the country was underwater, and there was "no dry land to pump the water out," adding that it was a "crisis of unimaginable proportions". Agricultural fields were also devastated by the water.

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Damaged houses district wise

Heavy monsoon rainfall and floods have affected 30 million people in Pakistan since mid-June, destroying nearly 218,000 houses and damaging hundreds of thousands more. Sindh and Balochistan are the two most affected provinces in terms of human and infrastructural impact. More than 700,000 livestock have been killed, most of them in the province of Balochistan, while destruction to over 3,600 km of roads and 145 bridges has impeded access across flood-affected areas. Over 17,560 schools were damaged or destroyed as well. At the request of the Balochistan Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), a multisectoral rapid needs assessment was undertaken in 10 districts of Balochistan to identify priority needs and gaps across sectors. Humanitarian partners are supporting the government-led response in affected areas, redirecting existing resources to meet the most urgent needs while working to further scale up the response.

File:ROAP Snapshot 220823 Ai.jpg

Asia and the Pacific: Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot (16 – 22 August 2022)

Sindh

At least 351 people have been killed and 701 have been injured by floods in Sindh. Among the fatalities were three young children, who lost their lives when the roof of their house collapsed in Kandhkot. 10 million people have been dislocated in Sindh and 57,496 houses were severely damaged or completely destroyed, mostly in the Hyderabad Division, and 830 cattle were killed. 1.54 million acres of farmland had been swept away by the floods.

Larkana and Sukkur divisions are severly affected by heavy rain, Thari Mirwah is inundated.

The city of Karachi has not been affected yet by the renewed flooding, but had been affected previously.

Balochistan

Flooding in Balochistan killed 273 people. In many areas, rainwater infiltrated many homes and made them uninhabitable. Many families were displaced. 426,897 houses have been either been damaged or completely destroyed, and 304,000 acres of crops were lost. Over 1 million cattle have also been killed.

According to the Relief Commissioner Provincial Disaster Management, Balochistan's capital Quetta has been declared a disaster area due to rains, and an emergency had been declared in the province.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Since July, a total of at least 235 people have been killed and 450 others were injured by floods. Among them were five children in Upper Dir District, who had been returning home from school, before they were swept away and eventually drowned by flooding. 326,897 houses were damaged due to floods and landslides, and 7,742 cattle died from collapsing sheds. In Swat District, a newly built hotel had collapsed due to excessive flooding. The southwestern part of the province was previously affected by an earthquake in neighbouring Afghanistan two months earlier.

In Lower Kohistan District 5 people stranded in a hill torrent were swept away killing 4 of them while one other was rescued. In Balakot 8 nomads were dead after flooding in a tributary to Kunhar River. 12 people were also killed in floodings in different areas of Dera Ismail Khan after flash floods from hill torrents..

Gilgit-Baltistan

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Comparison of the Gilgit river before and after flooding. The area depicted is Canopy Nexus hotel on river view road Gilgit

Since July, a total of at least 19 people were killed, four are missing and floods badly affected the Karakoram Highway. Roads were closed for traffic at several places due to landslides. The districts of Ghizar, Nagar, Diamer, Ghanche and Astore were the worst affected. 420 homes were destroyed and 740 were damaged due to floods and landslides. Meanwhile, the S-1 Strategic Highway also suffered erosion due to high water flows in the Indus River. The Ishkoman Valley Road was cut off at Gutkash due to flooding in the Ishkoman River. A bridge at Chhorbat in Ghanche District was also flooded. Valley roads and two bridges of Nagar District were swept away by floods. There are also reports of damage in Khanar and Bonar in Diamer District. As of 26 August, most parts of the villages in Ghizer were destroyed by the flood among these are Buber Valley, Gahkuch and Gulmuti. Residents were asked to evacuate the flood affected areas. River levels are rising to an extremely dangerous height.

Punjab

In Punjab, a total of 203 people have lost their lives and 233 others suffered injuries in recent floods. In Taunsa Sharif, many settlements were submerged in flood water. In the historical town of Mangadotha, west of Taunsa Sharif, hundreds of houses and livestock were swept away by flood waters. 178,000 acres of farmland were also lost. Residents of communities adjacent to flooded rivers began to migrate, with most families moving away. Most of the families have moved to safer places with essential supplies on foot and camels as roads and bridges were washed away.

Azad Kashmir

At least 47 people were killed by flooding in Azad Kashmir. On 31 July, in the Poonch District, ten people died and four were injured when a roof collapsed on top of them. Five tourists were swept away and later confirmed to have been killed in Neelum Valley on 19 August. They were all from Mianwali.

Response

• The United Nations has allocated $3 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help the affected areas.

• On 23 August, European Union announced it is providing immediate provision of €350,000 (nearly 76 million PKR) to Pakistan for humanitarian assistance.

• On 18 August, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a $1 million disaster aid to Pakistan to overcome challenges caused by flooding.

• On 25 August, a spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement expressed their deep sympathies to the flood-affected victims and offered sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Emergency humanitarian aid, including 25,000 tents and relief materials, is being dispatched forthwith while 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets, 50,000 tarpaulins and other reserves provided by China under the framework of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor's (CPEC) social and people's livelihood cooperation have been put into the frontline for relief. The Red Cross Society of China has already provided emergency cash assistance of US$300,000 to the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.

• On 27 August, Government of the United Kingdom announced £1.5m flood support fund for Pakistan.

• On 27 August, Azerbaijan announced it would provide $2 million in aid to Pakistan.

• On 28 August, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said in a post on Twitter that Ireland has "committed an initial contribution of €500,000 in emergency humanitarian funding" to Pakistan.

Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has decided to spearhead the relief operation in the wake of massive floods, met international partners on 25 August who pledged to provide $500 million to the country to mitigate the havoc wreaked by flooding.

Army helicopter crash

On 1 August 2022, a Pakistan Army Aviation helicopter on flood relief operations in the Lasbela area of Balochistan lost contact with air traffic control. The six military personnel on board, including the commander of the XII Corps, Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ali, died in the crash. Reports from Pakistani authorities on their early investigations attributed the crash to poor weather conditions, whereas Reuters reported on unverified claims from the Baloch insurgency umbrella group Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar that they shot the helicopter down.

See also

• List of floods in Pakistan
• 2022 Afghanistan floods
• 2022 South Asian floods