Floodwaters cover a residential area in Dera Allah Yar town in Balochistan province, Pakistan, on Aug. 30.FIDA HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images
Pakistan’s floods have submerged about a third of the country, killed more than 1,100 of its inhabitants and displaced hundreds of thousands more – and as the waters recede, authorities are just beginning to grasp the hard, costly rebuilding job ahead.
By initial estimates, the economic losses could be at least US$10-billion, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal says. That’s a lot of money for a country whose finances were in rough shape before the rains, and for Pakistanis who’ve endured months of rising food and fuel prices. Islamabad says it’s not fair for it to carry all those costs because heavier-emitting countries are more responsible for the global warming that makes extreme weather more likely in the future.
Here’s an overview of the damage done to Pakistan, the relief and fundraising efforts involved and how Canadians can contribute.
Pakistan’s floods: Latest headlines
UN seeks $160-million in emergency aid for Pakistan floods
Pakistanis protect homes against devastating floods as aid arrives
Pakistan floods leave wrecked lives, half million in camps
Overview: The damage so far
A woman carries a child during heavy rainfall in Dera Allah Yar on Aug. 30.FIDA HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images
From heat and rain to floods
Pakistan is “at the ground zero of the front line of extreme weather events” this summer, its Climate Change Minister, Sherry Rehman, said this week as disasters that scientists have long warned about in a warming world – above-average heat, rain and floods – all hit in a matter of months. Wet monsoons are a normal summer phenomenon in South Asia, but this year they began earlier than normal, in mid-June, just as northern Pakistan sweltered in record heat that melted glaciers in the Himalaya, Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountains. While floods have been persistent for weeks across Pakistan, the southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh – which have seen a 400-per-cent increase in average rainfall – were recently hit hardest and with little warning.
Total rainfall (mm)
0
400+
Aug. 1 to Aug. 7
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 8 to Aug. 14
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 15 to Aug. 21
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 22 to Aug. 28
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
SOURCE: REUTERS
Total rainfall (mm)
0
400+
Aug. 1 to Aug. 7
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 8 to Aug. 14
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 15 to Aug. 21
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Aug. 22 to Aug. 28
Kabul
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Quetta
PAKISTAN
INDIA
Karachi
Arabian Sea
SOURCE: REUTERS
Total rainfall (mm)
0
400+
Aug. 1 to Aug. 7
Aug. 8 to Aug. 14
Kabul
Kabul
Islamabad
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Lahore
Quetta
Quetta
PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN
INDIA
INDIA
Karachi
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
Aug. 15 to Aug. 21
Aug. 22 to Aug. 28
Kabul
Kabul
Islamabad
Islamabad
AFGHANISTAN
AFGHANISTAN
Lahore
Lahore
Quetta
Quetta
PAKISTAN
PAKISTAN
INDIA
INDIA
Karachi
Karachi
Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
SOURCE: REUTERS
Deaths and displacement
At least 1,191 people have died in the floods so far, including 399 children, Pakistani officials say. The floods have affected 33 million people, or 15 per cent of the population. The organized camps for displaced people have around half a million people so far, with many more seeking shelter on their own.
Threats to public health
For Pakistanis cut off from clean drinking water and health care, the risks of waterborne illnesses are high. Some doctors said they were already treating people with diarrhea and skin infections. The World Health Organization – which has said the floods damaged 888 health facilities nationwide – says essential medicine and supplies are the main challenges for now.
A flood victim in Mehar takes refuge along a road in a makeshift tent.Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Damage to infrastructure
In Sindh and Balochistan, the floods have damaged thousands of kilometres of roads and dozens of bridges, hampering efforts to bring aid to those areas. Across Pakistan, more than a million homes have been damaged or destroyed.
Damage to agriculture
More than 800,000 hectares of agricultural land are flooded, according to General Akhtar Nawaz, chief of the national disaster agency. With rice, fruit and vegetable crops wiped out and hundreds of thousands of livestock killed, Pakistanis who were already struggling to afford food will now have less of it to go around. That’s led Pakistan into talks with its neighbour and rival, India, in hopes of lifting restrictions on their highly fortified land border to allow more imports through.
Satellite images show areas of farmland in Gudpur, Punjab province, as they looked before the floods, on April 4, and after, on Aug. 30.Planet Labs PBC/AFP via Getty Images
Pakistan’s shaky financial situation
An investor monitors the big screen at at the Pakistan Stock Exchange in Karachi.Fareed Khan/The Associated Press
The floods came at a precarious time for Pakistan’s economy, when the government of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif – elected in April after the ouster of his predecessor, Imran Khan – was already struggling to prevent a debt crisis like the one in Sri Lanka. Inflation and energy prices have been rising sharply since Mr. Khan was in office, while foreign-currency reserves and the value of the Pakistani rupee dwindled. Those problems were interrelated with Asia’s historic heat wave this summer: As temperatures rose, so did demand for energy, which depleted currency reserves as Pakistan imported more natural gas.
Mr. Khan’s solution was to subsidize fuel and power utilities, but after he was removed in a no-confidence vote – accused of, among other things, economic mismanagement – the Sharif government scrapped the subsidies. That was a condition for a US$6-billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund, which on Monday approved the release of an initial US$1.1-billion and extended its relief scheme by a year.
International aid and climate equity
Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, right, listens as UN official Julien Harnies speaks at a joint news conference in Islamabad on Aug. 30.W.K. Yousafzai/The Associated Press
In their appeals for help, Pakistani officials have argued that heavy-emitting countries have a duty to act so that Pakistan does not bear the cost of a climate crisis largely not of its own making. (Since 1959, Pakistan has been responsible for 0.4 per cent of the greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, compared with 21.5 for the United States, 16.5 per cent for China and 15 per cent for the European Union.) “Frankly, the people of Pakistan ... are paying the price in their lives, their livelihoods for the industrialization of rich countries that has resulted in this climate change,” Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said in an interview with CNN this week.
So far, the United Nations has asked member states for US$160-million in emergency relief. Here’s how some countries have responded.
- United States: The U.S. embassy in Islamabad said Tuesday that US$30-million in “life-saving humanitarian assistance” would come through the U.S. Agency for International Development.
- China: Beijing increased its aid commitment on Monday to include US$300,000 in cash and 25,000 tents. China had already sent 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets and 50,000 waterproof tarps.
- Canada: Announced $5-million in humanitarian aid on Aug. 29.
Displaced people in Dera Allah Yar line up to receive food. Pakistani officials are ramping up aid efforts to help the millions affected by the floods.FIDA HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images
How you can help Pakistan
Canadian charities and local Pakistani diaspora groups have been raising funds to help those affected by the floods. Before donating, do your homework to see whether the charity has a credible track record; look at their website, search the Canada Revenue Agency’s database to learn about its registration status, or check resources like Charity Intelligence Canada that measure the impact of dollars donated.
UN bodies raising money for Pakistan include the World Food Programme; UNICEF, its childrens’-aid organization; and UNHCR, its refugee agency. The Canadian Red Cross, ICNA Relief Canada and Islamic Relief Canada are appealing for donations too.
The climate crisis: More reading
Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
Climate change and the Global South
Asia: An inside look at the Indonesian plan to replace sinking, polluted Jakarta as its capital
Climate and infrastructure in Canada
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Compiled by Globe staff
With reports from Associated Press, Reuters and Evan Annett