ISLAMABAD (TIP): Last summer’s flooding in Pakistan killed at least 1,700 people, destroyed millions of homes, wiped out swaths of farmland, and caused billions of dollars in economic losses. All in a matter of months. At one point, a third of the country was underwater. Pakistani leaders and many scientists worldwide blame climate change for the unusually early and heavy monsoon rains.
A year on, the country hasn’t fully recovered. The aftermath runs the length of the country; survivors living in makeshift huts where their homes used to be, millions of children out of school, and damaged infrastructure waiting to be repaired.
Pakistan’s national disaster authority said most people have returned to their towns or villages, but its flood records stop in November 2022. Almost 8 million people were displaced at the height of the crisis. But there is no information on how many people remain homeless or live in temporary shelters. Aid agencies and charities provide up-to-date pictures of life, saying millions remain deprived of clean drinking water and that child malnutrition rates have increased in flood-affected areas.
And the impact of recent heavy rainfall augurs ill for Pakistan should there be more flooding this year. Torrents have caused rivers to overflow, flash floods, fatalities, infrastructure damage, landslides, livestock loss, ruined crops, and property damage in parts of the country.
UNICEF estimates around 20 million people, including 9 million children, still need humanitarian aid in flood-affected areas. Many of the hardest-hit districts were already among the most impoverished and vulnerable places in Pakistan. What little people had was washed away, forcing them to start their lives over again.
This journey through Pakistan looks at how the unprecedented flooding of 2022 affected everyday life – and future generations.
Restoring water
The high altitudes and sharp peaks of the Hindu Kush Mountains mean that heavy rains barrel down through the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. That’s good because the waters quickly drain to lower-lying areas. But it’s bad because of the damage they wreak along the way.
Last summer’s raging floods were so powerful that some rivers changed course. They wrecked more than 800 drinking water supply systems across nearly half of the province’s 34 districts, damaging pipelines, supply mains, storage tanks and wells.
The impact on residents living by stagnant water and forced to rely on contaminated water for drinking was seen around two weeks after the flooding. Healthcare teams started receiving thousands of patients with diseases like dengue, malaria, acute diarrhoea, cholera and skin infections.
Villagers often had to walk several kilometres to find water. With access more difficult, water consumption dropped drastically, from 30 litres (8 gallons) per person per day before the floods to as low as 10 litres (2.6 gallons) after, according to the UK-based charity WaterAid. (AP)