Monsoon floods have hit hard in Pakistan’s Punjab province, affecting more than 4.2 million people, especially in the southern districts. A quick needs assessment from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) shared these tough numbers on Friday.
Teams from UNOCHA and the provincial government surveyed almost 2,000 villages across 18 flood-hit districts between September 8 and 18. They found that about 2.8 million people had to leave their homes. Floodwaters damaged around 161,700 houses, and key spots like schools and health centers took a big hit too.
Across the whole country, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority stepped up big time. From June 26 to September 19, they rescued or evacuated roughly three million people nationwide. The floods wrecked 12,559 homes and claimed the lives of 6,509 livestock.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stepped in with some relief, announcing he’d double the compensation for families who lost loved ones in the floods. That bumps the payout from one million rupees to two million rupees—about $7,000 USD—according to Xinhua news agency.
But amid all this devastation, politics is stirring up trouble. Pakistan People’s Party leader Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz face sharp backlash for turning flood relief into a political fight, instead of teaming up to help millions of suffering Pakistanis. This comes during one of the worst flood seasons the country has seen.
Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper called it out in a Saturday editorial, saying the real issue isn’t the best way to deliver aid—it’s about grabbing credit and showing who’s boss. Bilawal keeps pushing the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) as the only quick fix for flood victims in Pakistan, calling any pushback “irresponsible.” But Maryam fired back, wondering how BISP could handle huge payouts when its usual amounts top out at just 10,000 rupees—while she wants to give 100 times that to those hit hardest.
The editorial didn’t hold back on Maryam either, noting her recent comments sounded more like TV zingers than real solutions. “In tough times like these, leaders need to drop the ego and focus on what’s best for everyone,” it said. People in relief camps, dealing with hunger and illness, don’t care about political wins—they just need food, a safe place to stay, and medical help.
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