ISLAMABAD: As torrential monsoon rains inundate villages and farmlands across Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, an army of volunteers from national and international charities is racing against rising waters to pull stranded families to safety, deliver food to marooned communities and erect makeshift shelters for the hundreds of thousands uprooted by the floods.
Punjab, the country’s most populous and breadbasket province, has been facing a flood-emergency, fueled by above-normal rains and India’s release of excess water, which has affected more than 2.4 million people and killed 41 people in the last 10 days, according to the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA).
Floodwaters have submerged more than 3,100 villages, forcing authorities and charity organizations to relocate over 900,000 people and around 600,000 livestock to safety. Nationwide, rains, floods and landslides have killed at least 863 people since June 26 when the monsoon season first began.
The Al-Khidmat Foundation (AKF), one of the largest Pakistani charitable organizations, says it has sent 10,000 volunteers, along with motorboats and necessary logistics, to flood-affected areas in Punjab, where they have been rescuing marooned communities and livestock and taking care of them at temporary shelters.
“In Ganda Singh Wala, we have rescued and relocated around 30,000 people and 76,000 livestock to safe places,” AKF President Ikram-ul-Haq Subhani told Arab News, adding that these people were being provided with cooked food, clothes and other basic necessities.
“An AKF fleet of 40 ambulances is providing services in the affected districts of Punjab, along with three mobile health units and several medical camps.”
Last week’s deluges have submerged vast swathes of farmland and washed away homes that could run into billions of rupees, though proper estimates would only come during the rehabilitation process as the focus right now remains on rescue and relief, according to the AKF president.
“So far, we have spent more than Rs250 million ($889,680) but would need more especially in the rehabilitation phase,” said Subhani, whose organization has around 76,000 registered volunteers, of which, 6,000 are trained in rescue activities and leading teams in Punjab’s flooded areas.
Evacuations are also taking place in Punjab’s far-off regions that border the Sindh province in the south, where authorities have warned of a possible “super flood” in the Indus river if water levels top 900,000 cubic feet per second.
Weather authorities have forecast more rain this week in parts of Punjab and the federal capital of Islamabad where a downpour inundated several neighborhoods on Monday, leaving roads under water and vehicles stranded. Officials say the flood situation may aggravate if the showers continued.
Raza Narejo, country director of the UK-based Islamic Relief humanitarian organization, said the floodwaters were now moving toward southern Punjab, where the scale and magnitude of devastation is expected to be “significant.”
“So, keeping these anticipations and estimations in view, we have so far just figured out £15 million ($20.31 million) response in Punjab, but it can be drastically changed,” he told Arab News.
Narejo said Islamic Relief aims to reach more than 300,000 individuals and over 30,000 families in the immediate phase, but the numbers may go up as the situation unfolds.
“We are making sure that immediate needs, particularly in terms of water and cooked food, should be taken care of and we are further focusing upon, since they have been displaced, that how we can take care of their hygiene needs and how we can take care of their non-food items,” he said.
“We are looking at £5 million ($6.77 million) life-saving response and £10 million ($13.54 million) recovery, rehabilitation response, and the amount which we have spent so far that is £700,000 ($0.95 million).”
Once the floodwaters recede, Narejo said, Islamic Relief will conduct another assessment to determine the damages to crops, land, and properties, and it will plan for the recovery and rehabilitation needs of the affected people accordingly.
Syed Muhammad Owais, a spokesperson in Pakistan of another UK-based charity Muslim Hands, said his organization has stepped up its humanitarian response in Punjab’s Wazirabad, Multan and Sialkot districts, following relief work in the northwestern Buner district where cloudburst-induced floods killed dozens last month.
“Muslim Hands relief teams are on the ground, distributing hot meals and dry food packs to ensure that vulnerable communities do not go hungry,” he told Arab News.
Owais said the humanitarian organization was working in close coordination with national and provincial disaster authorities and district administrations to reach out to the most-affected villages.
“Medical aid has also been provided to those suffering from injuries and waterborne diseases, offering timely treatment in areas where health care access has been disrupted,” he said, adding that continuing rains created challenges in reaching remote areas but their coordination with authorities helped them overcome this issue.
Alongside local and international charities, United Nations (UN) agencies like UN Women have also stepped in to help affected people, focusing on the wellbeing of displaced women in the hardest-hit communities.
“Firstly, regarding the ongoing activities in the flood-affected areas, UN Women, as the Chair of the Gender Task Force, is actively collaborating with the NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) and their provincial counterparts to ensure that gender issues are regularly integrated into current flood preparedness and response efforts,” Erum Fareed, a communication officer at UN Women in Pakistan, told Arab News.
“UN Women is applying a Humanitarian-Peace-Development (HPD) nexus approach in its programming to enhance women’s resilience and leadership in crisis situations,” she said. “Currently, UN Women aims to reach around 6,500 flood-affected individuals addressing the prioritized needs of women and girls.”
Dr. José Ignacio Martín Galán, head of communications at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Pakistan, said their teams were continuing to support federal and provincial authorities in meeting health needs and saving lives in response to climate-driven floods across the country.
“As part of the Monsoon Contingency Plan 2025, WHO has supported Pakistan and partners to prepare the provision of emergency health assistance to 1.3 million vulnerable people across 33 priority districts when necessary,” he told Arab News, added the organization was focusing on the most affected areas and the 89 health facilities damaged during these floods.
Last week, a spokesperson for UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres also confirmed the release of $600,000 in emergency relief funds for Pakistan after devastating floods.
Monsoon season brings Pakistan up to 80 percent of its annual rainfall, but increasingly erratic and extreme weather patterns are turning the annual rains, which are vital for agriculture, food security and the livelihoods of millions of farmers, into a destructive force.
In May, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms, while a third of the country was submerged by devastating floods in 2022 that killed more than 1,700 people, affected over 30 million and caused an estimated $35 billion in damages.
