Daily Update of Torrential Rain and Flood situation across the country – August 03, 2010 at 9:30 pm

Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO)

Daily Assessment Updates on Torrential Rain and Flood Situation in Pakistan

August 3rd, 2010

Overview:

Country-wide torrential rains caused unprecedented and outrageous floods throughout Pakistan except in Sindh where minor damages are reported. The current spate of torrential rains and flash floods started on 21st July 2010. Initially it played havoc in eastern parts of Baluchistan which includes: Barkhan, Kohlu, Sibi, Jafferabad and Naseerabad districts. The relief operations in the affected areas of Baluchistan were not over yet, when floods struck district Rajanpur, Layya and Gujranwala in Punjab. Subsequently, the torrential rains and tides of floods turned towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir and engulfed various small and large towns in these areas. The most affected areas in KPK are: Shangla, Swat, Minghora, Mansehra, Charsadda, Noshehra towns, where routine life has come to a complete halt and affected communities in most parts of KPK are still waiting for rescue and relief.

Initial reports reveals that around 2.5 million people have been affected by worst floods in the country and death toll have rose to 1600 people. It is feared that the number of death will soar further once the communication links are re-established. The government authorities, armed forces and humanitarian organizations, particularly NGOs, have started a major rescue effort to reach out to affected communities to provide them humanitarian assistance during their distress movements.

In order to facilitate coordinated humanitarian response in the affected areas and enable humanitarian organizations to have substantial planning for their humanitarian activities, SPO, with the support of its partner organizations, initiated rapid assessments in the affected areas and share it with relevant stakeholders in the form of daily update. Date-wise situational update and rapid assessments of damages caused by torrential rains and flood are available on SPO website and can be accessed on URL http://www.spopk.org.

Daily update for 3rd August 2010, providing details of SPO’s response to the emergency situation and relief activities being carried out for mitigation of the miseries of affected communities across the country, is provided below:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province:

Nowshehra:

The following are glimpses of devastation caused by torrential rain and flood in district Nowshera.

As per reports several areas of Naushehra, including Noshehra Kalan, Noshehra Cantt, Pir Sabaq, Pashtoon Gharhi, Amaan Garhi and Pabbi, are adversely affected. So far 161 deaths have been confirmed by NDMA and reports of human losses are coming yet as most of the areas had been unreachable due flooding of road links. As per Pak Army reports, all major bridges were washed away main link such as Peshawar-Charsadda road and motorway bridge over Jundal Nullah was damaged which hampered the humanitarian agencies efforts of rescuing stranded communities in the area.

District Swat:

The detail of loses received from Flood Crisis Cell have been provided below:

According to the agriculture department, the crop area has been severely affected, as per initial reports 100,000 acre fertile land has been spilled and its fertility washed away due to flood water.  It has been estimated that rehabilitation of the land will take another 8-10 years.

D.I. Khan:

SPO D.I. Khan with the support of partner organizations and other humanitarian agencies have conducted rapid assessment of damages in the area. Details of the affected villages are provided below:

Azad Jammu and Kashmir:

District Muzaffarabad:

SPO participated in a meeting called by the Army Station Commander Muzaffarabad. The meeting was also joined by the Col. Murtaza who is appointed as person responsible from Army for the relief activities for Muzaffarabad division.

The highlights of the meeting were:

•Station Commander AJK shared that two helicopters were ready at Chaklala Airbase loaded with some food items and other household utensils but due to bad weather it could not fly

•Army has provided fuel for the machinery which is already working on road clearance and hopefully road is expected to be open by 5th August, 2010. The road will  be single track

•Temporary bridges for important road links will be provided for the use of light vehicles only

District Bagh and Haveli:

SPO through its Civil Society Network (CSN) in District Bagh and Haveli is collecting data of damage and loses. As reported by our teams, the only road leading towards District Haveli is blocked due to overflow of Dhulli stream.

SPO has also participated in coordination meeting held at Deputy Commissioner Office Bagh on 2nd August, 2010. Humanitarian community including NRSP, PRCS, STAR Foundation, KIRF, and MWF were present at the meeting. The heads of line departments included Bagh Development Authority, Municipal Committee Bagh, AJKCDP, Department of Education, Health, Agriculture, PWD building/roads and LGRD were present in the meeting.

The highlights of the meeting are as follows:

1.It was discussed that the city is exposed on three sides by “Mahl stream” and “Mehlwani stream” so it was proposed to change the wave tracks of the streams. Deputy Commissioner has directed the Bagh Development Authority to make arrangements in this regards.

2.The revenue department is conducting the detailed survey to get the actual status of damages in district Bagh.

SPO Regional teams are working with relevant stakeholders at regional level for relief and mitigation of miseries of the affected communities and coordinating relief operation in the areas. For further details or any other relevant information, you may contact SPO staff at following locations:

Islamabad:

Azad Jammu & Kashmir:

Quetta:

Multan:

D.I.Khan:

Peshawar: