Pakistan

People in Pakistan are dealing with the impact of extreme weather-related events – old and new – including the aftermath of the historic floods in 2022 and the 2023 monsoon rains.
OCHA Pakistan focuses on supporting local and international non-governmental organizations and the UN in helping people prepare for these events through anticipatory action, contingency planning and funding.

In April 2024, at least 124 people – most of them children– were killed by unexpected heavy rainfall that affected mostly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. The rains also killed livestock and left thousands of homes and vast swathes of land damaged. 

More heavy rains have been forecast until August by the Pakistan Meteorological which will require contingency and preparedness efforts to reduce the impact on the most vulnerable, especially in at-risk districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh. Flash floods are also anticipated in urban areas in Sindh, Punjab, Azad Jammu Kashmir, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as in the catchment areas of rivers.

People in many of the at-risk districts are still recovering from the disastrous floods in 2022 that affected 33 million people and left 7.9 million people displaced as well as the monsoon rains in 2023 that hit nearly 900,000 people. 

Pakistan is facing several other challenges, such as food insecurity.

According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) about 8.6 million people in parts of Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were facing high levels of acute food insecurity between March to June 2024 with 1.6 million people in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). 

According to the IPC, the situation is projected to improve slightly with 7.9 million people facing high levels of food insecurity between July and November 2024 with the setting in of the monsoon and post-harvest summer crop season. 

OCHA has been scaling up its operations in Pakistan focusing on its key functions of coordination, information management, resource mobilization and advocacy. At the national level, OCHA plans to enhance its reporting, analysis and communication capacity to increase situational awareness of the flood emergency.

OCHA Pakistan’s overall objective is to save lives, alleviate suffering and promote a life with dignity through improved efforts to coordinate the humanitarian response to affected people. . In 2024 and 2025, OCHA Pakistan will focus more on building capacity of the Government partners including local government organizations to respond to the most vulnerable and help them prepare for extreme events; humanitarian access and promote the protection of people in all humanitarian action. 

OCHA will also support efforts to address the needs of flood-affected people.

It will continue to work closely with the Resident Coordinator’s Office who have increased field presence and play a critical role in building humanitarian and development synergies. Operationally, OCHA Pakistan will have field presence in only 3 locations (Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar) that can be scaled up when needed.