With the onset of a heavier than usual monsoon season, assistance to tens of thousands of people affected by torrential rains and flash floods in different areas of the country has not been adequate and the risk of disease outbreaks is growing, local authorities have said.
[See: Could be a busy season for disasters]
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a 23 July humanitarian update that the worst affected areas have been the northeastern province of Punjab and southwestern province of Balochistan.
According to Hassan Baloch, Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Balochistan, flash floods caused by heavy rain since 20 July have killed at least 50 people and affected 50,000 in the worst-hit district of Barkhan, about 350km east of provincial capital Quetta.
He said neighbouring Kohlu and Sibi districts were also badly affected.
“The rain is continuing and water is surrounding houses. People are now really scared,” local resident Amjad Baloch told IRIN on the phone from Kohlu on 24 July. “It has been raining more or less continually for two days here. Very little is being done to help people, many of whom have lost homes.”
Major-General Saleem Nawaz, chief of Balochistan’s Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force, told the media that relief and rescue operations had been launched to “move affected people to safe locations”.
More than 40 villages have been inundated by floodwater in Kohlu, leaving hundreds of people stranded. Around 28,000 people were reportedly marooned in Sibi district.
In other areas of Balochistan, homeless people have been sleeping in the open, with some abandoning homes to head for higher land. Riverine floods triggered by the rains have been responsible for the flooding in many areas.
An emergency has been declared in Kohlu district and areas around the Turkha Dam have been evacuated. The collapse of a bridge means the road link between Kohlu and the rest of the country has been severed.
Relief not adequate
Nasrullah Rind, Deputy Commissioner of Kohlu, told the media that relief goods provided by PDMA were not adequate. “Three hundred families have been affected and they are all living in relief camps, but till now just 100 tents and 200 bags of wheat have been received,” he said.
Rind said he feared water-borne diseases would break out in affected areas.
While Balochistan province has been particularly hard hit, there have been dozens of deaths in rain-related incidents across the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and in Punjab province. Most people have died as a result of house collapses or electrocution.
Rains have also caused waterways to swell in northern areas and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while flooding has been reported in some southern Punjab districts.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Office has predicted that widespread rains and thunderstorms would continue in northern parts of the country. The monsoon season usually lasts until September.
kh/ed
[See: Could be a busy season for disasters]
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a 23 July humanitarian update that the worst affected areas have been the northeastern province of Punjab and southwestern province of Balochistan.
According to Hassan Baloch, Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) in Balochistan, flash floods caused by heavy rain since 20 July have killed at least 50 people and affected 50,000 in the worst-hit district of Barkhan, about 350km east of provincial capital Quetta.
He said neighbouring Kohlu and Sibi districts were also badly affected.
“The rain is continuing and water is surrounding houses. People are now really scared,” local resident Amjad Baloch told IRIN on the phone from Kohlu on 24 July. “It has been raining more or less continually for two days here. Very little is being done to help people, many of whom have lost homes.”
Major-General Saleem Nawaz, chief of Balochistan’s Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force, told the media that relief and rescue operations had been launched to “move affected people to safe locations”.
More than 40 villages have been inundated by floodwater in Kohlu, leaving hundreds of people stranded. Around 28,000 people were reportedly marooned in Sibi district.
In other areas of Balochistan, homeless people have been sleeping in the open, with some abandoning homes to head for higher land. Riverine floods triggered by the rains have been responsible for the flooding in many areas.
An emergency has been declared in Kohlu district and areas around the Turkha Dam have been evacuated. The collapse of a bridge means the road link between Kohlu and the rest of the country has been severed.
Relief not adequate
Nasrullah Rind, Deputy Commissioner of Kohlu, told the media that relief goods provided by PDMA were not adequate. “Three hundred families have been affected and they are all living in relief camps, but till now just 100 tents and 200 bags of wheat have been received,” he said.
Rind said he feared water-borne diseases would break out in affected areas.
While Balochistan province has been particularly hard hit, there have been dozens of deaths in rain-related incidents across the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and in Punjab province. Most people have died as a result of house collapses or electrocution.
Rains have also caused waterways to swell in northern areas and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir while flooding has been reported in some southern Punjab districts.
Pakistan’s Meteorological Office has predicted that widespread rains and thunderstorms would continue in northern parts of the country. The monsoon season usually lasts until September.
kh/ed
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
Share this article
