2010 Pakistan floods The 2010 Pakistan floods began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh,Punjab and Balochistan regions ofPakistan and affected the Indus Riverbasin. Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater, approximately 796,095 square kilometres (307,374 sq mi). [3][4][5] According to Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of close to 2,000. [1] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had initially asked for US$460 million (¼420 million) for emergency relief, noting that the flood was the worst disaster he had ever seen. Only 20% of the relief funds requested had been received as of 15 August 2010. [6] The U.N. had been concerned that aid was not arriving fast enough, and the World Health Organization reported that ten million people were forced to drink unsafe water. [7] The Pakistani economy was harmed by extensive damage to infrastructure and crops. [8] Damage to structures was estimated to exceed US$4 billion (¼2.5 billion), and wheat crop damages were estimated to be over US$500 million (¼425 million). [9] Total economic impact may have been as much as US$43 billion (¼35 billion). [10][11] [edit]Causes US Army helicopter flies over a flood-affected area. The floods were driven by rain. [12] The rainfall anomaly map published by NASA showed unusually intense monsoon rains attributed to La Niña. [13] On 21 June, the Pakistan Meteorological Department cautioned that urban and flash flooding could occur from July to September in the north parts of the country. [14] The same department recorded above-average rainfall in the months of July and August 2010 [15] and monitored the flood wave progression. [16] Discharge levels were comparable to those of the floods of 1988, 1995, and 1997. [17] The monsoon rainfall of 2010, over whole country, was excess of 87 per cent and was highest since 1994 and ranked second highest during last 50 years of period. [18] An article in the New Scientist[19] attributed the cause of the exceptional rainfall to "freezing" of the jet stream, a phenomenon that reportedly also caused unprecedented heat waves and wildfires in Russia as well as the 2007 United Kingdom floods . [20]
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The 2010 Pakistan floods began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh,Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan and affected the Indus River basin.
Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater, approximately 796,095 square kilometres(307,374 sq mi).[3][4][5] According to Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 20 million
people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of close to 2,000.[1]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had initially asked for US$460 million (¼420 million) for emergency relief,
noting that the flood was the worst disaster he had ever seen. Only 20% of the relief funds requested had been
received as of 15 August 2010.[6] The U.N. had been concerned that aid was not arriving fast enough, and
the World Health Organization reported that ten million people were forced to drink unsafe
water.[7] The Pakistani economy was harmed by extensive damage to infrastructure and crops.[8] Damage to
structures was estimated to exceed US$4 billion (¼2.5 billion), and wheat crop damages were estimated to be
over US$500 million (¼425 million).[9] Total economic impact may have been as much as US$43 billion (¼35
billion).[10][11]
[edit]Causes
US Army helicopter flies over a flood-affected area.
The floods were driven by rain.[12] The rainfall anomaly map published by NASA showed unusually intense
monsoon rains attributed to La Niña.[13] On 21 June, the Pakistan Meteorological Department cautioned that
urban and flash flooding could occur from July to September in the north parts of the country. [14] The same
department recorded above-average rainfall in the months of July and August 2010 [15] and monitored the flood
wave progression.[16] Discharge levels were comparable to those of the floods of 1988, 1995, and 1997. [17] The
monsoon rainfall of 2010, over whole country, was excess of 87 per cent and was highest since 1994 and
ranked second highest during last 50 years of period. [18]
An article in the New Scientist [19] attributed the cause of the exceptional rainfall to "freezing" of the jet stream, a
phenomenon that reportedly also caused unprecedented heat waves and wildfires in Russia as well as
involved, and 950,000 people were affected,[26] although within a day, reports increased that number to as high
as a million,[27] and by mid-August they increased the number to nearly 20 million affected.[28]
By mid-August, according to the governmental Federal Flood Commission (FFC), the floods had caused the
deaths of at least 1,540 people, while 2,088 people had received injuries, 557,226 houses had been destroyed,
and over 6 million people had been displaced.[21] One month later, the tally had risen to 1,781 deaths, 2,966
people with injuries, and more than 1.89 million homes destroyed. [1]
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial minister of information, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said "the infrastructure of
this province was already destroyed by terrorism. Whatever was left was finished off by these floods." [29] He
also called the floods "the worst calamity in our history."[30] Four million Pakistanis were left with food
shortages.[31]
The Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan with China, was closed after a bridge was destroyed. [32] The
ongoing devastating floods in Pakistan will have a severe impact on an already vulnerable population,according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In addition to all the other damage the
floods caused, floodwater destroyed much of the health care infrastructure in the worst-affected areas, leaving
inhabitants especially vulnerable to water-borne disease.[33] In Sindh, the Indus River burst its banks
near Sukkur on 8 August, submerging the village of Mor Khan Jatoi. [31] Law and order disappeared, mainly in
Sindh. Looters took advantage of the floods by ransacking abandoned homes using boats. [34]