Floods Devastate Punjab: 4.2m Affected, Over 1,000 Dead, PM Announces Higher Compensation
ISLAMABAD — More than 4.2 million people in Punjab have been affected by the recent floods, which have left nearly 1,000 people dead, thousands injured, and millions displaced, according to official assessments.
A Rapid Needs Assessment by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) revealed Muzaffargarh as the hardest-hit district, accounting for over a quarter of the affected population. Other badly hit areas include Jhang, Bahawalpur, Khanewal and Multan.
The report said around 161,000 homes were damaged, of which 46,000 were completely destroyed. Nearly 2.8 million people have been displaced, many urgently requiring tents, tarpaulins, bedding, and winter kits.
Health services have also been severely disrupted, with 395 out of 742 health facilities in 18 districts damaged. Flood-hit villages reported rising cases of malaria, skin infections, diarrhoea, and dengue, raising fears of a health crisis.
The education sector has also been hit hard, with 667 schools damaged — more than half of them girls’ schools — while 217 schools have been converted into evacuation centres, disrupting studies for over 100,000 students.
Floods have devastated crops, killed livestock, and damaged 97,000 water supply schemes, leaving millions facing food insecurity. In Multan, over 80% of communities reported food stocks lasting less than a week.
In response, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has doubled compensation for families of flood victims, raising ex-gratia payments from Rs1 million to Rs2m. The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat was informed that the revised package would cost the government around Rs2.03 billion.
Officials warned that casualty and damage figures are likely to rise as rescue and assessment operations continue. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said nearly three million people have been rescued or evacuated since late June.
