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FLASH FLOODS FROM MONSOON RAINS IMPACT NORTHWEST PAKISTAN AGAIN AUGUST 1-17, 2013. Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA . Summer floods are common as a result of monsoon rains that swell rivers and streams across Pakistan.
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FLASH FLOODS FROM MONSOON RAINS IMPACT NORTHWEST PAKISTAN AGAINAUGUST 1-17, 2013 Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA
Summer floods are common as a result of monsoon rains that swell rivers and streams across Pakistan.
IN VIEW OF PAST FLOODING DISASTERS, PAKISTAN’S GOVERNMENT CRITICIZED FOR LACK OF FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE MEASURES
SOCIETAL IMPACTS • Monsoon rains have triggered flash floods and landslides in different parts of northwestern Pakistan, blocking roads, flooding streams and washing away houses and crops.
SOCIETAL IMPACTS • More than 81,000 people affected • Hundreds dead. • Health care issues.
NORTHWEST PAKISTAN (AND AFGHANISTAN) HIT BY CATASTROPHIC FLOODING AFTER PROLONGED MONSOON RAINS JULY 28-AUGUST 23, 2010 [NOTE: War and Ramadan (which began on Aug 12) were major hinderances]
2010’s floods, which began in May and continued through August, were the worst in 80 years, setting records in the province of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, parts of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region, and the eastern province of Punjab.
In Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan troops flew dramatic helicopter rescue missions in militant-held territory, displaying "acts of heroism that were awe inspiring," according to a spokesman for the Combined Air Power Transition Force.
Over 1,600 Pakistanis died (and probably many more) and more than 20,000,000 were impacted, including 3,500,000 children, as rains swelled rivers, inundated villages, and triggered landslides, causing entire villages, roads, and bridges to be swept away and leaving some areas isolated.
The survivalof some of the poorest of the poor living in the districts of Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, Swat, and Lower Dir became problematic very early because of the prolonged, catastrophic nature of the monsoon rains and flooding.
The United Nations announced Saturday, July 31, that they would provide $10 million dollars for immediate emergency assistance and would appeal for 460 million for an emergency effort to provide food, medicine, water, and shelter, especially for 3.5 million children.
International response to the appeal of the United Nations for $460 million was unusually slow due, in part, to global economic problems.
The USA provided $60 million for immediate emergency assistance along with Navy and Marine helicopters, rescue boats, water filtration units, prefabricated steel bridges and thousands of packaged meals, which Pakistani soldiers tossed from helicopters
The rains paused on Monday, August 2, for a time, but survival for thousands was already a race with time as evacuation, search and rescue, mass care (food, clean water, and short- and long-term health care to prevent disease) were severely hindered by the widespread inundation and loss of infrastructure.
On August 12th, Pakistan’s President Zardari made his first trip to Sukkur to view the flood impacts and to assure angry citizens concerned that they had been abandoned, that the Government was working very hard to obtain international relief.
The people protested to the government, because they perceived that the urgent need adequate temporary shelters, and clean drinking water and toilets to avert a public health catastrophe was NOT being met.
By August 12th, rain-swollen rivers were receding, but the disaster was still growing because many of Pakistan’s poorest of the poor families had not only lost their homes, but also the ability to feed themselves, and were now threatened with disease..
