PAKISTAN FLOODS

The 2010 Pakistan floods began in July 2010 after heavy monsoon rains affected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, lower Punjab as well as parts of Balochistan. It is estimated that two thousand people along with close to a million homes have perished so far. The United Nations estimates over 20 million people are suffering and homeless with over 160,000 square kilometres (62,000 sq mi) affected as a result of the flooding, exceeding the combined total of the affected of 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. However, the death toll in each of those three disasters was much higher than the number of people killed so far in the floods. Around a fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater due to the flooding.
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon has asked for an initial $460 million for emergency relief, noting that the flood was the worst disaster he had ever seen. 50% of the relief funds requested has been received as of 15 August 2010. The U.N. is concerned that aid is not arriving fast enough, while the World Health Organization reported that ten million people were forced to drink unsafe water. The Pakistani economy has been harmed by extensive damage to infrastructure and crops. Structural damages are estimated to exceed 4 billion USD, and wheat crop damages are estimated to be over 500 million USD. Officials estimate the total economic impact to be as much as 43 billion USD.


Causes

Current flooding is blamed on unprecedented monsoon rain. The rainfall anomaly map published by NASA shows unusually intense monsoon rains. On 21 June, the Pakistan Meteorological Department cautioned that urban- and flash flooding could occur from July to September in the north parts of the country. The same department recorded above-average rainfall in the months of July and Aug 2010, and monitored the flood wave progression . Interestingly, some of the discharge levels recorded are comparable to those seen during the floods of 1988, 1995, and 1997 .

An article in the New Scientist attributed the cause of the exceptional rainfall to "freezing" of the jet stream, a phenomenon that simultaneously also caused an unprecedented heat wave and wildfires in Russia as well as the 2007 United Kingdom
floods in the past.


The floods were caused by monsoon rains, which were forecast to continue into early August and were described as the worst in this area in the last 80 years. The Pakistan Meteorological Department said that over 200 mm (7.88 inches) of rain fell over a 24-hour period over a number of places of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab and more was expected.[24] A record breaking 274 mm (10.7 inches) rain fell in Peshawar during 24 hours, previously 187 mm (7.36 inches) of rain was recorded in April,2009. So far as many as 500,000 or more people have been displaced from their homes. On 30 July, Manuel Bessler, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, stated that 36 districts were involved, and 950,000 people were affected, although within a day, reports increased the number to as high as a million, and by mid-August to nearly 20 million affected. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial information-minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said "the infrastructure of this province was already destroyed by terrorism. Whatever was left was finished off by these floods."[30] He also called the floods "the worst calamity in our history." Four million Pakistanis were left with food shortages.

Officials have warned that the death-toll could rise as many towns and villages are not accessible and communications have been disrupted. In some areas, the water-level was 5.5 m (18 ft) high and residents were seen on roof-tops waiting for aid to arrive. At least 1,588 people have been injured, 722,600 houses and 4,600 villages have been damaged or destroyed.[33] The Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan with China, was closed after a bridge was destroyed. The ongoing devastating floods in Pakistan will have a severe impact on an already vulnerable population, says the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In addition to all the other damages the floods have caused, floodwaters have destroyed much of the healthcare-infrastructure in the worst-affected areas, leaving inhabitants especially vulnerable to water-borne disease. In Sindh, the Indus River burst its banks near Sukkur on 8 August, submerging the village of Mor Khan Jatoi. There is also an absence of law and order, mainly in Sindh. Looters have been taking advantage of the floods by ransacking abandoned homes using boats.

In early August, the heaviest flooding moved southward along the Indus River from severely-affected northern regions toward western Punjab, where at least 1,400,000 acres (570,000 ha) of cropland was destroyed, and the southern province of Sindh. The crops affected were cotton, sugarcane, rice, pulses, tobacco and animal fodder. Floodwaters and rain destroyed 700,000 acres (3,000 km2) of cotton, 200,000 acres (800 km2) acres each of rice and cane, 500,000 tonnes of wheat and 300,000 acres (1,000 km2) of animal fodder. According to the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association, the floods destroyed 2 million bales of cotton, which led to an increase in futures of the commodity in international market.

Pakistani authorities have predicted that fresh rainfall is expected to trigger further two waves of flooding, inundating more land and swallowing yet more villages. One of this new flood surge is currently sweeping down from mountainous areas in the north and expected to hit highly populated areas in the coming days, while the second wave is being formed in the mountains.
Aftermath

The power infrastructure of Pakistan also took a severe blow from the floods, which damaged 10,000 transmission lines, transformers, feeders and power houses in different flood hit areas. Flood water inundated Jinnah Hydro power and 150 power houses in Gilgit. The damage caused a power shortfall of 3,135 MW.

Aid agencies have warned that outbreaks of diseases, such as: gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and skin diseases due to lack of clean drinking water and sanitation can pose a serious new risk to victims of flood. On 14 August, the first documented case of cholera emerged in the town of Mingora, as fear ran through millions of stranded victims of flood, who are already suffering from gastroenteritis and diarrhea. It has been reported by the International Red Cross that a large number of unexploded ordinance such as mines and artillery shells have been flushed down stream by the floods from areas in Kashmir and Waziristan and scattered in low lying areas, posing a future risk to returning inhabitants. The United Nations estimated that 800,000 people have been cut off by floods in Pakistan and are only reachable by air. It also stated that at least 40 more helicopters to ferry lifesaving aid to increasingly desperate people. Many of those cut off are in the mountainous northwest, where roads and bridges have been swept away.

On the direction of President Asif Ali Zardari, there were no official celebrations of 63rd Independence Day on 14 August as the country faces calamity.