Floods Affect 4.2 Million in Pakistan’s Punjab, Cause Widespread Damage

ISLAMABAD, Sept 26 (VoM): More than 4.2 million people have been affected by monsoon floods in Pakistan’s Punjab province, with southern districts hit hardest, according to a rapid needs assessment released Friday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

The joint assessment, carried out with the provincial government between Sept 8 and 18, surveyed nearly 2,000 villages across 18 flood-affected districts.

Findings revealed that around 2.8 million people were displaced, while about 161,700 houses were damaged. Health and education facilities also suffered extensive destruction.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported that some three million people were rescued or evacuated nationwide between June 26 and Sept 19. The floods also destroyed 12,559 houses and killed 6,509 livestock.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif earlier announced that compensation for families who lost loved ones in the floods would be doubled from one million rupees to two million rupees (about US$7,000).