More than two million people have been evacuated in Pakistan’s Punjab province as floods sweep the country’s eastern region, authorities have said.
Another 150,000 have been evacuated in Sindh province, national disaster management chief Inam Haider Malik told reporters on Thursday, warning that the “number may rise over the coming days”.
Monsoon rains have killed more than 900 people nationwide since late June, according to an update from the International Medical Corps on Friday.
Climate change has worsened floods in Pakistan, as heavy rains cause rivers to overflow. But critics also blame a lack of government investment in disaster mitigation, such as better alert systems and infrastructure.
The floods, which have destroyed larges swathes of farms and houses, are devastating for residents in Pakistan, 40% of whom live below the poverty line.
Many families chose to stay home to protect their property despite flood risks, residents in Punjab’s flood-stricken areas told the BBC last month.
Rescuers had to go door-to-door to relocate villagers and their livestock by boats – but this method also comes with risks of its own, as the small boats are forced to contend with strong currents.
Nine people died on Tuesday after a rescue boat carrying flood victims capsized in the Indus River. Days earlier, five people died in a similar incident on the outskirts of Jalalpur Pirwala city.
The floods have also wreaked havoc in neighbouring India, killing at least 30 people and affecting more than 354,000.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority says it has delivered tonnes of relief supplies, including blankets, tents and water filtration devices to flood-hit areas in Punjab.
Malik said it would take weeks for the water to dry before they could start “rehabilitation work” on thousands of villages and fields, Dawn reported.
This week, the UN allocated $5m to support Pakistan’s flood response, while the US State Department approved funding and deployed disaster response personnel – the first assistance of its kind during Trump’s second term, ABC reported.
Pakistan’s geography makes it extremely vulnerable to climate change, as the country contends with both extreme heat and rain. Its melting glaciers have also created new lakes at risk of glacial outbursts.
In 2022, months of heavy rain in Pakistan killed more than 1,700 people and affected more than 30 million in what became one of the deadliest flood events in history.
Amid the latest wave of floods, Pakistani authorities this week declared a climate emergency. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has also ordered officials to come up with a 300-day plan to address challenges posed by climate change.
