Asia and the Pacific: Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot (23 - 29 August 2022)

PAKISTAN

The number of damaged and destroyed houses in Pakistan has tripled since the last Weekly Regional Humanitarian Snapshot, with around 950,000 houses impacted as of 27 August. At the province level, since last week the number of damaged/destroyed houses more than tripled in Sindh (to over 807,000 houses) and more than doubled in Balochistan (to nearly 61,500 houses) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (to over 33,200 houses). In Punjab, more than 46,300 houses have been damaged/destroyed, some 18,500 more than a week earlier. Nearly 3,500 km of roads have now been damaged, as well as some 150 bridges.

The National Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reports that 33 million people have been impacted by the rains and floods, and the number of officially declared 'calamity hit' districts has risen to 72 – 31 in Balochistan, 23 in Sindh, nine in Khyber Pakhunkhwa, six in Gilgit-Baltistan and three in Punjab. More than 1,000 people have been killed and over 1,500 injured, while livestock losses have reached at least 719,000. A Floods Response Plan has been developed to complement the wider government response and aims to aid some 5.2 million flood-affected people for the next six months.

MYANMAR

In Rakhine State, tensions between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and the Arakan Army (AA) have increased with armed clashes in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and Mrauk-U townships during the reporting period. Sporadic fighting has also been occurring in neighbouring Paletwa township in Chin State since the beginning of August 2022. Consequently, several thousand people are reported to have been displaced to safer locations, including forests, relatives’ houses and displacement sites, although numbers remain difficult to verify. Local and international partners have been providing emergency assistance to displaced people wherever they can, but access remains challenging. Security measures have been tightened in many areas, and waterways and roads have been blocked, restricting the transportation of medical supplies, food and other humanitarian supplies. Almost 75,000 IDPs remain displaced from the previous AA-MAF conflict in 2019-2020 are still sheltering across 160 sites and 24 host communities in 10 townships of Rakhine State and Paletwa township of Chin State where they are heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance for their survival.

As of 22 August, almost 1.3 million people are displaced nationwide according to the UN, 949,000 of whom fled their homes since the February 2021 military takeover.

CHINA

Drought and high temperatures have affected a number of areas in China since the end of July 2022, with southern regions recording the longest-lasting, widest, and highest average temperatures since 1961. According to data from the Ministry of Water Resources, as of 21 August, in nine provinces and municipalities including Sichuan, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Anhui and Jiangxi, a total of 33 million mu (1 mu = 0.16 acre) of arable land has been impacted by the drought, and a total of 2.46 million population and 350,000 large livestock have been affected. In Chongqing Municipality alone, as of 23 August, a total of 1.96 million people were affected, 694,500 people need support and assistance (including 571,000 who have difficulty accessing drinking water), 106,900 large livestock were impacted mainly due to lack to access to drinking water, and the direct economic loss are estimated as 307 million USD.

33M people affected by floods in Pakistan

1.2M people displaced in Myanmar since Feb 21

2.4M people affected by drought in China