Two Years After Deadly Floods Hit Pakistan, It’s Happening Again
One recent evening, as heavy monsoon rains pounded down, Fauzia and her extended family of 15 huddled under a makeshift tent, its top patched with large plastic sheets.
Two years ago, her home was damaged in some of the worst flooding to ever hit Pakistan, a catastrophe that left more than 1,700 people dead and affected 30 million. Her family rebuilt three rooms with borrowed money and the sale of livestock. But as torrential rains have returned this year, their home has been damaged yet again, forcing them into the tent during downpours. Their memories of 2022 fill them with fear.
“Our children are terrified of the rain now,” said Fauzia, who, like many women in rural Pakistan, goes by one name. “Whenever it rains or the wind picks up, they cling to us and cry, ‘We will drown.’”
As unusually heavy rains lash Pakistan during this monsoon season, Fauzia is one of millions across the country who had only just recovered from the devastating 2022 floods and are now bracing for the possibility of losing what they had rebuilt.
That prospect has stoked outrage among some Pakistanis, who say that the authorities have not adequately prepared for the latest deluges, which have killed at least 285 people since July 1, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
Government officials say they have taken steps like implementing early warning systems and strengthening embankments along major rivers. But critics say that Pakistan’s political, economic and security instability has pushed flood recovery and climate-change mitigation measures to the bottom of the government’s priorities.
Environmental groups have criticized the government for what they called delayed and insufficient relief efforts; substandard infrastructure, especially in rural areas unprepared for large-scale disasters; and pervasive issues of corruption, mismanagement and lack of coordination among agencies.
In recent weeks, Pakistan has been afflicted both by heavy rains and unusually high temperatures that have accelerated snowmelt in its mountainous northern regions. The runoff has turned into roaring rivers, drenching the south.
The torrential rains are expected to continue for weeks, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
In the remote Upper Dir district of the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a mudslide set off by heavy monsoon rains struck a house late last week, killing 12 people, most of them children, rescue officials said.
The province of Balochistan, in the southwest, is also grappling with widespread flooding. Infrastructure has been damaged and vital services have been disrupted, including the gas supply to several districts, including Quetta, the provincial capital.
Experts have linked Pakistan’s floods in recent years to climate change, with rains getting more intense during the monsoon season, which runs from July to September. The 2022 disaster caused an estimated $30 billion in damage, the equivalent of nearly 9 percent of the country’s annual economic output.
The floodwaters left deep scars in the villages of southern Sindh Province, where Fauzia lives with her family. Sindh, positioned downstream from Pakistan’s other provinces in the country’s southeast, bore the brunt of the 2022 floods. Nearly 1,100 people in the province were killed, and almost eight million were displaced.
Fauzia’s village is in the Dadu district, one of the hardest hit in the flooding two years ago. The village is called Allah Bachayo, which means “God saves.” The heavy rains that caused the 2022 flooding lasted for more than 24 hours, Fauzia said, inundating the entire region. The family survived by going to the top of a nearby canal embankment.
Recent torrential rains have only compounded the suffering. “The rainwater pooled outside our homes has been causing us immense anxiety and bringing back traumatic memories of the 2022 floods,” said Fauzia, her gaze fixed on the standing water.
Government reconstruction efforts have yet to fully repair the damage. Electricity remains scarce after the floods severely damaged the power infrastructure. Many people are living in makeshift tents near their destroyed houses, and children still lack access to education.
After the disaster, the Sindh government announced a plan to rebuild 2.1 million houses. But many villagers complain that only a fraction of the promised assistance has been delivered.
For those who have received the aid, the reconstruction payment — $1,078 in three installments — is insufficient to build even a single room measuring 16 by 18 feet without a kitchen.
Shahzadi, a woman in her 50s, had to supplement the government assistance by selling her goats and jewelry, raising an additional $450 for the construction.
On a recent afternoon, she and her daughter worked tirelessly alongside a mason, mixing cement and passing concrete blocks to save on labor costs. “We can’t afford to pay two helpers $22 a day each,” she said, her hands caked with mud. She said that the cost of construction materials had doubled since the 2022 floods.
Before the disaster, Shahzadi lived in a three-room house with her family. They have since spent two long years living in tents.
As for her new one-room house, “it’s not a home; it’s a compromise,” she said with a sigh, glancing at the half-finished structure. “But at least our children can live in a room instead of under the open sky.”
The crisis in the villages has been worsened by two consecutive years of poor crop yields, a result of damage to irrigation systems. Even though electric power has not been restored, villagers complain that they continue to receive electricity bills.
In Sindh, farmers typically grow two crops a year. They harvest rice and cotton in the fall and then start planting wheat around late October or November.
Maqbool Ahmed, a 55-year-old small landowner, was unable to plant wheat in 2022, as it took five months for the water to recede from his fields.
This year, Mr. Ahmed planted rice on only half of his land, fearing another flood. His fears were justified — the monsoon rains have once again inundated his crop.
“In this uncertain weather, landlords and farmers cannot cultivate anything,” he said. “It will only lead to more losses.” Mr. Ahmed, like many other farmers, has taken on crushing debt after their homes and farmland suffered damage.
Many families have still not returned after being displaced by the 2022 floods. Tens of thousands are living in precarious conditions in the slums of Karachi, an already overcrowded port city of more than 20 million people.
These displaced families, once rooted in rural life and farming, are struggling to adapt to unpredictable city life.
Masooda, a 35-year-old mother of three, is sharing a cramped rented house in Karachi with two other displaced families, paying $53 a month for rent and electricity. Her family’s home in Dadu, built of mud and straw, was swept away two years ago.
Despite the hardships, Masooda expressed gratitude for the livelihood, however tenuous, that Karachi offers. Her husband, whose eyesight has deteriorated, earns about $2 a day by cobbling shoes with the help of their 5-year-old son.
“At least here, my husband can work and we have a roof over our heads,” she said. “That’s more than we would have if we went back.”