Between June and August 2022, torrential rains and a combination of riverine, urban, and flash flooding led to an unprecedented disaster in Pakistan. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), around 33 million people—that is, one in seven— have been affected by the floods, including nearly 8 million displaced. The floods have taken the lives of more than 1,700 people, one-third of which were children.

Rain-induced floods, accelerated glacial melt, and resulting landslides devastated millions of homes and key infrastructure, submerging entire villages and destroying livelihoods. Preliminary estimates suggest that, as a direct consequence of the floods, the national poverty rate will increase by 3.7 to 4.0 percentage points, pushing between 8.4 and 9.1 million people into poverty. As of October 11, 94 districts were declared as “calamity hit,” accounting for more than half of all districts in the country. The majority were in the provinces of Balochistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Out of the 25 poorest districts in the country, 19 were calamity-affected.