By CARE's Emergency Response Team | CARE's Writing Team
Introduction
Since June 14, Pakistan has received three times the normal amount rainfall for the season, compared to the 30-year average. An estimated 33 million people have been affected throughout the country, with three million people displaced from their homes. An estimated 637,000 people are being housed in relief camps, including approximately 5,500 schools that the government has converted into temporary shelters. However, many families are still seeking refuge in informal camps and in the open. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reports that more than 1,200 people have died and 4,900 have been injured as a result of the floods, although that number is expected to increase, as many of the hardest-hit areas remain cut off from rescue and relief efforts due to landslides and flooding.
More than 99% of affected communities are located in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Punjab and Sindh provinces, where impacts have varied considerably. The heavy rains have already damaged more than 3,100 miles of roads – including nearly 1,000 miles in KP alone in the last week. Landslides and flooding have also damaged 243 bridges and submerged railway tracks, disrupting service along vital routes. An estimated 1.3 million homes have been damaged and 560,000 have been completely destroyed, a 53% increase from the beginning of September.
Water systems have been damaged throughout the country, leading to serious risks of the spread of waterborne diseases at the same time that stagnant water creates heightened risk for mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and malaria. Nearly 3.6 million acres of agricultural lands have been submerged, including 2.85 million acres in Sindh province alone. Communities in Sindh and Balochistan reported having no access to food or to local markets, leaving families entirely dependent on food aid from the government and humanitarian organizations, like CARE.
Read more about CARE humanitarian response and aim to reach 12,312,850 people with life-saving assistance, both now and in the future.
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