2012 floods hit Sindh the hardest: NDMA

According to official assessment 259 people died in Sindh and 61 in Balochistan.

ISLAMABAD:

This year’s monsoon floods have killed over 259 people and rendered 3.2 million homeless in Sindh making it the worst-hit province.

According to the latest statistics of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the 2012 floods have so far left over 451 people dead and 2,916 injured, while a total of five million people have been affected.

Last year’s flood had affected over five million people, caused the deaths of 400 people. In 2010, the flood affected over two million people in 15 districts, with over 600 reported deaths.

This year, over 9,651 cattle heads have perished, crops on 1.5 million acres of farmlands destroyed, and 400,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed in 16,000 villages in all four provinces.

Nearly 0.32 million people are still living in 480 relief camps set up by the provincial disaster management authorities and NDMA across the country.

Thousands of people are living with their relatives, while over 30,000 are living under the open sky in Kashmore, Jacobabad, Jaffarabad, Khairpur and parts of Rahim Yar Khan.

In Sindh, floods injured 2,421 people, damaged or destroyed 0.5 million houses and swamped 171 union councils in 12,005 villages. Kashmore remains the worst-affected district in the province, where 54 people have been killed and over 1, 862 injured.

Over 51 people have been killed, 259 injured and over crops on 27,000 acres of farmlands have been destroyed in Shikarpur. In Jacobabad, 41 people have been killed and 77 injured.

Balochistan happens to be the second worst-affected province, where 61 people have died and 123 have been injured. More than 14,000 villages have been swamped as heavy rains wreaked havoc on the canal system in the province.

Over 60 people have lost their lives and 272 have been injured in several districts of Punjab, where around 1 million people in 1,512 villages have been affected.

UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan Timo Pakkala, who frequently visits flood-hit areas, expressed his deep concerns over the deplorable situation in the flood-hit areas.

“Based on initial findings of the assessment and reports from the organisation working in the field, I’m concerned that the situation in the flood affected areas is extremely serious and current response may be inadequate. There is urgency to step up relief efforts.”

“We have concluded a joint rapid assessment with the government of the most affected areas to determine gaps and priorities in humanitarian grounds. The UN is ready to mobilise more resources but we would need a request from the government on the findings of the joint assessment,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2012.