Most of the flood victims have now returned to their homes, with only a few still staying in temporary shelters.
ISLAMABAD: According to the government, the majority of people who were displaced by the unprecedented floods that hit the country last summer have now returned to their homes, and only a small portion of those people are still living in makeshift camps in the Sindh region, which was the area that was hit the hardest.
The newest statistics, according to the organization in charge of disaster management, show that little less than 50,000 people are currently residing in camps in Sindh. This number is far lower than the half a million people who were living in tents in the region back in September.
The catastrophic floods that struck Pakistan in the summer of 2017, which were made much worse by climate change, resulted in 1,735 fatalities and the displacement of 33 million people. 12 million people were impacted by the floods in Sindh alone, and 796 individuals lost their lives as a direct result.
Pakistan has requested that the international community increase the amount of assistance provided to flood survivors, who are now in danger due to the approaching winter. The World Bank estimates that the floods cost $40 billion in damages the month prior to that estimate being released.
If victims of the flood were not provided with food and other supplies in a timely manner, the harsh winter weather may make their suffering even worse.
Cash-strapped Before the extraordinarily strong monsoon rains came in the middle of June, Pakistan was already in the midst of a catastrophic financial crisis. These monsoon rains triggered floods that at one point left a third of the country’s land submerged.
In a report that was released on Tuesday, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that the regions of Balochistan and Sindh still have water that is standing still.
And despite the fact that the floods caused severe damage to the country’s agricultural output, the report found that 98 percent of the land used for wheat cultivation is still available for the following planting season. This is a promising sign, considering that Pakistan has already begun importing wheat to prevent a potential food crisis.
