Revised Pakistan 2022 Floods Response Plan: 01 Sep 2022 - 31 May 2023 (04 Oct 2022)

At a Glance

PEOPLE AFFECTED 33M
PEOPLE IN NEED 20.6M
PEOPLE TARGETED 9.5M
REQUIREMENTS (US$) $816M

Situation Overview

Heavy rains and a combination of riverine, urban and flash flooding have led to an unprecedented climate-induced disaster in Pakistan since June 2022, causing widespread fatalities, killing livestock, and damaging and destroying public and private infrastructure across the country. Rain-induced landslides and floods have also damaged agricultural land and forests, impacting local ecosystems.

84 districts nationwide have been notified as ‘calamity hit’ by the Government of Pakistan, mainly in Balochistan (32 districts), Sindh (23 districts) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (17 districts).

Displacement, fatalities and injuries

Around 33 million people have been affected by the heavy rains and floods, including at least 7.9 million people who have been displaced, of whom some 598,000 are living in relief camps. Nearly 800,000 refugees are estimated to be hosted in more than 40 calamity-notified districts, including over 175,600 women, 194,000 girls and 206,000 boys. Two districts host nearly half this refugee population – Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Quetta in Balochistan.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), between 14 June and 28 September more than 1,600 people were killed and over 12,800 people were injured as a result of the heavy rains and floods, including 333 women and 615 children killed and 3,452 women and 4,006 children injured. One-third of all recorded deaths and injuries are children, while nearly half of all deaths and 66 per cent of all injuries were recorded in Sindh. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa each reported around 19 per cent of all recorded deaths, while Punjab reported 30 per cent of all injuries.

House and infrastructure damage

More than 2 million houses have been affected, comprising over 767,000 houses destroyed and nearly 1.3 million houses damaged. Eighty-nine per cent of this is in Sindh, where over 683,000 houses were destroyed and over 1.1 million houses were damaged. Sindh also contains 64 per cent of the over 13,000 kilometres of roads and 40 per cent of the 410 bridges damaged or destroyed nationwide. Public infrastructure damage is next highest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with Balochistan incurring 17 per cent of total recorded road damage and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recording 12 per cent of all road damages and 26 per cent of all damaged and destroyed bridges. This impact on critical transport infrastructure has inhibited the ability of people wishing to move away from reaching safer areas, as well as impeded access to markets and services and the delivery of aid to people in need.

Livestock and agricultural impacts

More than 1.1 million livestock have reportedly been killed, including some 500,000 livestock in Balochistan, over 428,000 livestock in Sindh and over 205,100 livestock in Punjab. FAO assesses that some 9.4 million acres of crop area in Pakistan was potentially inundated in August, of which 4.8 million acres are in Sindh, 2.7 million acres in Punjab, 1.2 million acres in Balochistan and 714,000 acres in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Damage to agricultural land may also be present in areas not observed to be inundated in August, resulting from the heavy rains and flash flooding.
Forests, wetlands and other natural systems are also likely to have been affected, and large amounts of debris has been generated by the destruction caused by flash floods and landslides. As well as being a food source, many households rely on agriculture and livestock for their livelihoods, with livestock often also serving as collateral for loans, including to finance the purchase of seeds for sowing crops. The loss of livestock and widespread crop damage thus present significant economic and food security repercussions.

Heightened poverty

Preliminary estimates by the World Bank suggest that as a direct consequence of the floods, the national poverty rate could potentially increase by 4.5 to 7.0 percentage points, pushing between 9.9 and 15.4 million people into poverty and intensifying the depth and severity of poverty for already poor households. Women are especially vulnerable to poverty, with only 22.6 per cent of women in Pakistan active in the labour market, and the income of an average woman in Pakistan around 16 per cent of that of an average man.

Current flood status

Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa all experienced hill torrents, with flash floods causing substantial damage. Many areas were also inundated by floods, with Sindh being the most affected province. Rainfall has decreased since the start of September, and as of 26 September the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) indicates that all rivers in Pakistan have returned to their normal flow levels.

Tharparkar district in Sindh and Sialkot district in Punjab continue to be affected by increasing floodwaters, according to preliminary satellite-derived assessments by the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) comparing the week of 15 to 21 September with the preceding week. Water levels in other areas remain stagnant or are receding gradually. At the national level, UNOSAT assessments indicate that overall flood extent is receding, with some 75,000 km2 of land appearing to be affected by floodwaters in August compared to around 46,000 km2 in the week to 21 September.
The Government of Sindh Irrigation Department projects that water will have receded from most districts in the province by December, while Dadu and Jamshoro are expected to remain at least partially inundated until the end of the year.

Climate change

The pattern of rainfall occurring since June is a departure from the usual seasonal pattern, falling on areas not usually affected by the annual monsoon. South and central Pakistan have been most affected, with Sindh enduring 8.3 times and Balochistan enduring 6.9 times their respective average rainfall. A year ago, both these provinces were enduring moderate to severe drought conditions, with mild to moderate drought conditions persisting in southwest areas of Balochistan and south Sindh until the onset of this monsoon. The most severe rain spells this monsoon were in August, which was the wettest August in Pakistan in over 60 years, recording 3.4 times as much rain as the national average.3 Despite its very low carbon footprint, Pakistan is globally one of the ten countries most affected by extreme weather events, according to the Global Climate Risk Index 2021 and Climate Watch. As highlighted in Pakistan’s National Climate Change Policy issued last year, the effects of global climate change in Pakistan are already evident through the melting and receding glaciers; increasing frequency of droughts, flooding and erratic weather behaviour; changes in agricultural patterns; reduction in fresh water supply; loss of biodiversity; and increase in the formation and outburst of glacial lakes.

During his visit to Pakistan in September, UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted that he had never seen climate carnage on this scale, and urged massive and urgent financial support for Pakistan. National efforts to support people affected by this climate disaster require effective international solidarity and effective justice, through the mobilisation of support for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction, and through concrete and equitable climate action.