Flooding Case Study in LEDC

Pakistan, Asia - Poor Country

Pakistan

 

 t the end of July 2010 usually heavy monsoon rains in northwest Pakistan caused rivers to flood and burst their banks. The map below shows the
huge area of Pakistan affected by flooding. The floodwater slowly moved down the Indus River towards the sea.

Continuing heavy rain hampered the rescue efforts. After visiting Pakistan, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said  that this disaster was worse than anything he’d ever seen. He described the floods as a slow-moving tsunami.

The effect of the floods

 At least 1600 people died

20 million Pakistanis were affected (over 10% of the population), 6 million needed food aid

Whole villages were swept away, and over 700,000 homes were damaged or destroyed

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were displaced, and many suffered from malnutrition and a lack of clean water

5000 miles of roads and railways were washed away, along with 1000 bridges

160,000km2 of land were affected. That’s at least 20% of the country

About 6.5 million acres of crops were washed away in Punjab and Sindh provinces

The responses to the floods

 ·        Appeals  were immediately launched by international organisation, like the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee – and the UN – to help Pakistanis hit by the
  floods
·         Many charities and aid agencies provided help, including the Red Crescent and Medecins Sans Frontieres
·        Pakistan’s government also tried to raise money to help the huge number of people affected
·        But there were complaints that the Pakistan government was slow to respond to the crisis, and that it struggled to cope
·        Foreign Governments donated millions of dollars, and Saudi Arabia and the USA promised $600 million in flood aid. But many people felt that the richer foreign governments didn’t do enough to help
·        The UN’s World Food Programme provided crucial food aid. But, by November 2010, they were warning that they might have cut the amount of food handed out, because of  a lack of donations from richer countries