28 Aug 2022

Pakistan floods: Desperation and displacement in Sindh province

9:00 am on 28 August 2022

The Prime Minister of Pakistan has said the "magnitude of the calamity" is bigger than expected, after visiting flood-hit areas.

Displaced people wade through a flooded area in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on August 27, 2022. Since June, nearly 900 people have died by severe monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan, while thousands have been displaced and millions more affected. Thousands of people who live in areas under threat of flooding have been told to evacuate.

Displaced people wade through a flooded area in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan on 27 August. Photo: Anadolu Agency via AFP

Shehbaz Sharif was speaking from Sindh province - which has had nearly eight times its average August rainfall.

The floods have killed nearly 1000 people across Pakistan since June, while thousands have been displaced - and millions more affected.

As the BBC drove through Sindh, there were displaced people in every village.

The full scale of the devastation in the province is yet to be fully understood - but the people described it as the worst disaster they've survived.

Floods are not uncommon in Pakistan, but people here said these rains were different - more than anything that's ever been seen. One local official called them "floods of biblical proportions".

Near the city of Larkana, thousands of mud homes have sunk under water. For miles all that's visible is treetops. Where the water level is lightly lower, thatched roofs creep out from underneath the water.

Displaced people wait to get food and other assistance after fleeing their flood-hit homes, from different districts of Karachi, Pakistan, on August 27, 2022. Flash floods caused by abnormally heavy monsoon rains have killed hundreds of people across Pakistan over the last two months, officials said Monday, as rescuers backed by troops raced against time to evacuate thousands of marooned people.

Displaced people from different areas of Karachi in Pakistan wait to get food and other assistance after fleeing their flood-hit homes on 27 August 2022. Photo: Anadolu Agency / Yousuf Khan via AFP

In one village, the people are desperate for food. In another, many children have developed waterborne diseases.

When a mobile truck pulled over, scores of people immediately ran towards it. Children carrying other children made their way to the long queue.

One 12-year-old girl said she and her baby sister had not eaten for a day.

"No food has come here, but my sister is sick, she has been vomiting," the girl said. "I hope they can help."

The desperation was evident in every community. People ran towards car windows to ask for help - anything.

On one of the main streets out of the city of Sukkur, hundreds of people have settled.

Many of them walked from remote villages, and were told that help is easier to get in the urban areas. But there's not much difference here.

Children use a raft to make their way in a flooded area after heavy monsoon rains on the outskirts of Sukkur, Sindh province, on August 27, 2022. - Thousands of people living near flood-swollen rivers in Pakistan's north were ordered to evacuate on August 27 as the death toll from devastating monsoon rains neared 1,000 with no end in sight. (Photo by Asif HASSAN / AFP)

Children use a raft to make their way in a flooded area after heavy monsoon rains on the outskirts of Sukkur, Sindh province, on 27 August 2022. Photo: AFP / Asif Hassan

On Friday, PM Sharif said 33 million people had been hit by the floods - about 15 percent of the country's population.

He said the losses caused by floods this season were comparable to those during the floods of 2010-11, said to be the worst on record. The country has appealed for more international aid.

In Sindh, it's not that local authorities are not trying, but they admit that they are out of their depth.

The provincial government says this is a "climate change catastrophe" and that the people of Pakistan, especially in the poorer communities, have been the worst affected.

The solutions will not be quick - acres of land are waterlogged and the water is not receding fast enough for any rebuilding to take place here.

There's not much to do for the people but to wait - wait for the rains to stop, wait for the water to go down, wait for more resources to be allocated to these kinds of communities.

In the meantime, life continues to be difficult.

- BBC