EN
BRIEFING
EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service
Author: Bruno Bilquin
Members' Research Service
PE 733.672 – September 2022
The floods in Pakistan and the global
and EU humanitarian responses
SUMMARY
With a population of almost 236 million, Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world.
The country has been hit by extreme weather events this year. In March and April 2022, an extreme
heat wave hit Pakistan and India. This was followed in June by the heaviest monsoon rains in over a
century. The rains left a third of the country under water – an area almost three times the size of
Portugal. The damage is significant – over 1 600 people have been killed by the rains, floods and
landslides, while over 12 850 people have been injured. It is reported that 7.9 million people have
been displaced, including some 598 000 currently living in relief camps. In total, it is estimated that
more than 33 million people have been affected. On top of the human tragedy, there has also been
considerable material damage: over 805 000 houses have been completely destroyed; over
1.2 million houses have been damaged; the communications infrastructure (including 12 700 km of
roads) has been severely damaged; 2 million acres of crops have been adversely affected; and
1.1 million livestock have perished.
Pakistan was one of the countries worst affected by climate change in the 2000-2019 period, and
this climate-induced crisis has come on top of an ongoing political and economic crisis. The latter
has been caused by loose fiscal policies and international developments (inflation, and food and
fuel price increases in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine). Much of the blame has fallen
on the former prime minister for his government's handling of the economy; the former finance
minister recently resigned as well. Given the above, the domestic, international and EU responses to
this climate-induced humanitarian crisis are key to limiting the impact of the catastrophe in a
vulnerable and populous region.
Relations between the EU and Pakistan are framed by the EU-Pakistan Strategic Engagement Plan
of June 2019, the 2021-2027 Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Pakistan and the GSP+
trade preference scheme.
IN THIS BRIEFING
The current climate and flooding crisis in
Pakistan
The domestic, global and EU humanitarian
responses
Impact of the flood crisis on Pakistan's foreign
policy
EU-Pakistan relations
The floods in Pakistan and the global and EU humanitarian responses
2
The current climate and flooding crisis in Pakistan
The extreme heat wave that hit Pakistan and India in March and April 2022 was followed in June by
the heaviest monsoon rains in over a century. According to the OCHA (United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Aid) situation report No 7 of 24 September 2022, over 1 600 people
including 79 children, have been killed by the rains, floods and landslides, while over 12 850 people
have been injured since mid-June, including 4 000 children. In total, it is estimated that more than
33 million people out of a population of 236 million have been affected. Over
805 000 houses have
been completely destroyed, over 1.2 million houses have been damaged, and 1.1 million livestock
have perished. Furthermore,
2 million acres of crops have been adversely impacted. The
communications infrastructure has been hard hit, with 12 700 km of roads damaged or destroyed.
According to the OCHA situation report, 7.9 million people have been displaced, including some
598 000 people now living in relief camps. The report also mentions rising floodwaters in parts of
Sindh and Balochistan, and stagnant or receding waters elsewhere.
On 17 September 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the alarm about a second
disaster in the wake of the floods: outbreaks of waterborne and other diseases, such as
gastrointestinal infections, dengue fever, diarrhoea, typhoid and malaria, due to the dirty, stagnant
and mosquitos-infected waters. Many
analysts, and also the United Nations (UN) Resident
Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Pakistan, have attributed the floods to climate
change. They observe that the devastating rains have occurred in a country that has done little to
cause global warming, but keeps being hit by it. Others have
blamed the absence of governmental
measures to prevent construction in flood-prone areas and river beds after the 2010 floods, which
resulted in the deaths of almost 2 000 people. Pakistan's Climate Change Minister
Sherry Rehman
blames the inefficiency of the North-South climate deal: 'There is so much loss and damage, with so
little reparations to countries that contributed so little to the world's carbon footprint, that obviously
the bargain made between the global north and global south is not working'. Pakistan is on the
Germanwatch-compiled list of the ten countries worst affected by climate change from 2000 to
2019, while itself being responsible for less than 1 % of global carbon emissions. Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari, Pakistan's Foreign Minister, declared on 1 September that the cost of the damage would
exceed current estimates of US$10 billion, and that the crisis was still ongoing – in the rescue and
relief phase.
The domestic, global and EU humanitarian responses
Pakistan's response
The government of Pakistan mobilised the
local response by establishing the
Prime
Minister's Flood Relief Fund to collect
donations in Pakistan and abroad. Despite
finding itself in the throes of a serious
economic crisis (see text box), Pakistan has
also, reportedly, released
US$113 million to
some 1 million flood-affected households,
through the Benazir Income Support
Programme (
BISP) in Balochistan, Sindh,
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, according
to the National Disaster Management
Authority (
NDMA).
Pakistan's economic crisis
Pakistan'
s loose fiscal policy, coupled with the
international food and fuel price shocks caused by the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, has
resulted
in an
unsustainable current account deficit, a significant
decrease in the country's foreign reserves (US$9 billion,
about six weeks' worth of imports) and a 30 %
depreciation of the currency. Domestically, annual
inflation reached 24.9 % in August 2022. This
contributed to the ousting of the prime minister,
Imran Khan, and the recent resignation of the finance
minister, Miftah Ismail.
Sources: International Monetary Fund, Britannica, and
Reuters.
The floods in Pakistan and the global and EU humanitarian responses
3
Global response
The 2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan (FRP), an international humanitarian appeal targeting
5.2 million people, was launched jointly on 30 August by the Pakistan government and the UN. The
FRP comprises life-saving response activities worth US$160.3 million, which cover food security,
assistance for agriculture and livestock, shelter and non-food items, nutrition programmes, primary
health services, protection, water and sanitation, women's health, education support, and shelter
for displaced people. According to the
OCHA Financial Tracking System and the European
Commission's DG ECHO, the main donors to the FRP in early September were the United States (US),
with US$26.1million (23.9 % of the
funding), Australia with US$3.6
million, Canada with US$3.4 million,
and the UN
Central Emergency
Response Fund with US$2.7 million.
On 9 September, the US announced
an additional US$20 million in
humanitarian assistance to support
the people affected by severe
flooding, as a top-up to a former
announcement of US$30 million.
Simultaneously, the US Department
of Defense began
airlifting critical
life-saving humanitarian supplies
throughout Pakistan. On
19 September, the US announced a
further US$2 million in
humanitarian assistance, for
Afghan
refugees. On 1 September, the
United Kingdom (UK) announced
humanitarian support of up to
GBP1.5 million.
EU response
The EU has released €2.15 million in humanitarian funding to support families affected by flash
floods, through two components of the EU Emergency Toolbox, the acute large emergency
response tool (ALERT), for €1.8 million, on 26 August, and the small-scale tool, for €350 000, on
24 August. On 5 September, the EU released new humanitarian funding of €200 000 for the Disaster
Response Emergency Fund (DREF), which is administered by the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The EU's Copernicus satellite service has been activated to collect
data to support the assessment of the situation in the most affected areas, notably in the Balochistan
and Sindh Provinces (support for first responders on the ground with satellite maps in rapid
mapping mode). In addition, as with the devastating
floods of 2010 to 2015, which affected over
30 million people, the EU activated the European Union civil protection mechanism (EUCPM), upon
request for assistance by the Pakistan government, to channel relief items to flood victims.
Offers of rescue personnel and material received as of 5 September from EUMS included: 300 family
tents from Belgium and 300 from Sweden; 83 mobile water pumps, 200 family tents, 1 000 ground-
sheets, 200 kitchen kits, 400 hygiene kits, a team of 8 doctors and nurses, 4 water pump technicians
and a bailey bridge from France; a water purification team and plant from Denmark; Austria also
offered equipment. The EUCPM has also deployed an EU civil protection team and a liaison officer
to help coordinate the arrival of further aid.
Figure 1 – Pakistani areas most affected by the floods
Source: Copernicus website, map created with Datawrapper.
The floods in Pakistan and the global and EU humanitarian responses
4
Impact of the flood crisis on Pakistan's foreign policy
Pakistan's reliance on external support for relief and rehabilitation efforts will be heavy, according
to an analyst from Oxford Analytica
. The flood crisis has become a top priority for Pakistan's Prime
Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, who was elected on 11 April 2022 to replace Imran Khan. Pakistan can
count on significant aid from major actors, mainly the US, China and the Gulf countries, and from
the EU. Constraints on Pakistan-US bilateral ties include the fact that 'each country is close to the
other's main rival' (Pakistan is growing closer to China, the main strategic rival of the US and the US
is growing closer to India, Pakistan's strategic rival). However, an insistence on pointing to
developed countries as those mainly responsible for climate change might weaken the goodwill of
the international community to offer Pakistan major support to address the flood crisis. The same
Oxford Analytica analyst dashes
hopes that the current humanitarian urgency might help improve
Pakistan-India relations in the longer term. Pakistan itself does not officially expect the flood disaster
to lead to better relations with India, despite the message of sympathy tweeted by Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. On the fringe of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in
Samarkand (Uzbekistan) in mid-September, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, demonstrating that Pakistan is continuing to maintain a balanced
foreign policy, through delicate positioning between Washington and Moscow. Putin reportedly
told Sharif that Russian gas supplies to Pakistan were possible, and that part of the necessary
infrastructure was already in place.
EU-Pakistan relations
In October 2022, the EU and Pakistan celebrate 60 years of bilateral relations. Relations between
Pakistan and the EU are framed by the EU-Pakistan Strategic Engagement Plan
of June 2019, which
links governance, security and development; the Multiannual Indicative Programme (MIP) for
Pakistan 2021-2027 and its €265 million development programmes, mainly for green inclusive
growth (€172 million, 65 % of the MIP amount) under the NDICI-Global Europe Regulation; and the
GSP+ trade preference scheme with the EU.
In the European Parliament, a delegation of the Human Rights subcommittee visited Pakistan from
19 to 21 September 2022, to discuss mainly human rights and trade (GSP+). In that context, they
expressed their condolences for victims of the floods and their solidarity with the people of Pakistan.
They also stressed
that Pakistan must undertake timely reforms and legislative changes on human
rights issues. The agenda for the October I plenary session includes a point on the humanitarian
situation after the devastating floods in Pakistan and the climate crisis (Council and Commission
statement).
DISCLAIMER AND COPYR
IGHT
This document is prepared for, and addressed to, the Members and staff of the European Parliament as
background material to assist them in their parliamentary work. The content of the document is the sole
responsibility of its author(s) and any opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent an official
position of the Parliament.
Reproduction and translation for non
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commercial purposes are authorised, provided the source is
acknowledged and the European Parliament is given prior notice and sent
a copy.
© European Union, 2022.
Photo credits: ©
crystaleyestudio / Adobe Stock.
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