Pakistan Floods 2010
In July 2010, Pakistan experienced one of the most devastating floods in its history, primarily along the Indus River, due to unusually heavy monsoon rains. These floods displaced approximately eight million people and affected nearly one-fifth of the country's land, including significant agricultural areas. The disaster resulted in a humanitarian crisis, with a death toll estimated between 1,300 and 1,600 and millions facing the risk of waterborne diseases due to contaminated drinking water. The flooding also severely damaged infrastructure, destroying thousands of miles of roads, schools, and health clinics.
The political implications of the floods were profound, particularly for President Asif Ali Zardari, whose international travels during the disaster drew public criticism amidst rising tensions with Islamist groups. The Pakistani military played a crucial role in the relief efforts, while international aid, including assistance from the United States, sought to address the urgent needs of the affected populations. The floods not only highlighted the immediate humanitarian challenges but also underscored the ongoing political and security issues within Pakistan, including the complex dynamics of governance and civil-military relations amidst natural disasters.
Pakistan Floods 2010
Summary: From the end of July 2010 unusually heavy monsoon rains over Pakistan caused the worst flooding in at least 80 years along much of the Indus River. The floods drove about eight million Pakistanis out of their homes and affected about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory, including some of its most productive farmland in the Indus Valley. The flooding created a massive humanitarian crisis, and a political crisis for President Asif Ali Zardari, who proceeded with visits to France and Britain at the outset of the disaster, while radical Islamist organizations were seen delivering emergency aid. A senior American official, Richard Holbrooke, said the flooding offered the United States a chance to repair its damaged reputation in Pakistan by delivering effective aid.
From late July through August 2010 Pakistan experienced some of the worst flooding in its history along the Indus River, which runs the length of the country. The BBC described the floods as being of "truly biblical proportions." As of the end of August, when flood waters began receding, an estimated eight million people (out of about 166 million total) had been driven from their homes by flood waters and up to 20 million seriously impacted. About one-fifth of Pakistan's total territory was affected. The death toll at the end of August 2010 was between 1,300 and 1,600. The United Nations estimated the impact of the Pakistan floods exceeded the combined effects of three other natural disasters of the previous decade--the tsunami that swept the Indian Ocean in December 2005 and earthquakes in Haiti and Kashmir.
The Pakistan flooding also took on an explicit political aspect almost immediately, coming in the midst of the continuing battle between government forces and the Pakistani Taliban, as well as in the context of a widely unpopular government and its alliance with the United States against Islamist fundamentalists.
The Floods. The floodplain of the Indus River is home to about 100 million people. It was the site of one of the earliest civilizations dating to about 7,000 BCE. The period June through September marks the rainy season, called the monsoon, in Pakistan, which is a generally arid country. From the last week in July 2010, more than half the normal seasonal rain fell in a single week. Up to eight inches of rain fell over parts of northern Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly called North-West Frontier Province). One factor among others affecting monsoon rains is the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean, which was higher than normal in 2010. According to climatologists, higher-than-normal temperatures cause more moisture to be lifted from the ocean and dropped over Pakistan; runoff from these rains then flows into the Indus which in some years is unable to contain it. Some climatologists speculated that the 2010 rains and floods could have been one result of global warming, and thus might be expected in future years.
Over a period of two or three weeks in August 2010, runoff from the rains overflowed the banks of the Indus along a path more than 600 miles long, starting upstream in Pakistan's north and flowing to the Arabian Sea in the south. By mid-August about one-third of the country was flooded. In some places the Indus had swollen from a normal width of about a mile to up to 12 miles. Flooding affected provinces from Baluchistan to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh. As much as one-fifth of Pakistan was under water. Flooded areas included some where the Pakistan military had been fighting Islamist militants, including the Swat valley.
Humanitarian disaster. About 20 million Pakistanis were affected to some degree by the flooding, with about eight million severely affected. More than half those were without shelter as a result of floods.
The death toll as of the end of August was estimated between 1,300 and 1,600.
Flooding destroyed more than 5,000 miles of roads and bridges, 7,000 schools, 400 health clinics, as well as the electricity and communications infrastructure in an area of about 62,000 square miles.
Clean drinking water was in short supply in some districts. United Nations officials said about six million people were at risk of diseases associated with impure water. Within the first month there were several reports of cholera in the Swat Valley.
About 17 million acres of Pakistan's most fertile cropland were underwater as a result of the flooding. Many farmers saw their autumn crops entirely destroyed and faced uncertainty about the likelihood of being able to plant for the next season. Many others suffered devastating losses of livestock drowned in flood waters (about 200,000 head altogether), as well as stored grain used to feed cattle.
Relief Efforts. Tens of thousands of Pakistanis were left homeless by the floods, straining government relief efforts. The primary burden of bringing relief to refugees fell on the Pakistani military, already strained by efforts to provide security against the Pakistan Taliban, as well as lingering effects of a strong earthquake in Pakistani Kashmir in 2009. Secretary General Ban toured the flooded area by air in mid-August and appealed for $460 million in foreign aid, although pledges seemed relatively slow to arrive. The World Bank pledged to reroute $900 million from other projects to help fund recovery in Pakistan.
Political Implications. Almost from the very start, the flooding took on an explicit political dimension.
In the early days of the disaster, President Asif Ali Zardari proceeded with visits to France (August 1-4, 2010), including a meeting with President Nicholas Sarkozy and a visit to Zardari's chateau in Normandy; and Britain, where he met the new prime minister, David Cameron, and held a rally of his Pakistan Peoples' Party in Birmingham. His absence from the country brought him withering criticism. In sharp contrast, the Pakistani military chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, was visible directing emergency rescue efforts.
The United States, according to published reports, seized upon the floods as an opportunity to repair its reputation in Pakistan. President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, said in a television interview ("The Charlie Rose Show," PBS): "If we do the right thing, it will be good not only for the people whose lives we save but for the U.S. image in Pakistan. The people of Pakistan will see that when the crisis hits, it's not the Chinese. It's not the Iranians. It's not other countries. It's not the E.U. It's the U.S. that always leads." Six American aircraft were immediately loaned to relief efforts from the campaign in neighboring Afghanistan, and the Pentagon later sent 19 helicopters for use in rescue efforts. The United States also announced that it was sending additional ships with relief supplies and helicopters from the United States; they were expected to arrive in late September 2010. Some American aid was sent via international aid groups.
In the early days of the disaster, domestic Pakistani Islamic groups were among the first to organize relief efforts, setting up an apparent contrast to the government. On August 26, 2010, a Pakistan Taliban spokesman, Azam Tariq, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying his organization viewed the presence of foreign aid workers in Pakistan as "unacceptable" and threatened violence against them. A United Nations spokesman said the threat would not affect aid efforts. A U.S. State Department spokesman said Washington took the threat seriously.