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ISLAMABAD: Major Pakistani charities have intensified their relief operations in flood-affected areas, with representatives warning on Tuesday that significantly more funds will be needed during the rehabilitation phase to support thousands of people who have lost their homes and livelihoods.

Since late June, heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 707 people across Pakistan, damaged infrastructure and triggered flash floods and landslides in the country’s mountainous north, according to official data.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), nearly 400 people have died and 181 have been injured in northern Pakistan in the latest spell of rains that began last week, with Buner district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province emerging as the worst-hit, accounting for 225 of the deaths.

Pakistan’s commercial hub Karachi, in the southern Sindh province, also experienced flash flooding on Tuesday following intense downpours that killed at least eight people. However, the primary focus of the NDMA and major relief organizations remains the northern districts, where emergency supplies are being dispatched daily to flood-hit areas.

“Currently, around 6,000 volunteers are working across Pakistan, with more than 1,100 deployed in Buner alone and since August 15, we have spent over Rs250 million ($886,525) on aid supplies, and are intensifying our efforts,” Dr. Hafeez ur Rahman, the top Alkhidmat Foundation (AKF) official, told Arab News.

While Rahman said many individuals were still donating generously, he warned that the larger challenge lay ahead.

“Far greater support will be required for the post-flood rehabilitation of homes and businesses,” he said, noting that AKF had already begun collecting data on damaged houses and shops to assist their owners with rebuilding.

In the immediate term, he added, the charity is focused on food and medical relief. Daily meals, crockery and clothes are being distributed, while volunteers are helping residents clear mud from homes to make them habitable again.

“Two mobile health units with full diagnostic facilities are operating round the clock, while a hospital in Buner provides comprehensive medical services, including surgeries,” Rahman said.

He feared a surge in waterborne diseases in the flood-affected areas, saying the charity was distributing bottled water, installing portable filtration systems and deploying a high-capacity water purification truck capable of treating 2,000 liters per hour.

Raza Narejo, the country director of Islamic Relief, an international humanitarian organization based in the United Kingdom, said his teams were working closely with local communities in Buner, Swat and Shangla districts of KP and were committed to long-term recovery.

“So far, we have generated £500,000 ($677,350) initially and we are aiming for more than £5 million ($6.8 million) overall response initially in life-saving phase and then recovery rehabilitation transitioning toward development,” Narejo told Arab News.

He stressed that rebuilding efforts would require major investment in not only shelters, but also in damaged irrigation systems, farmland and road networks. Delivery of aid remained difficult due to damaged roads in the hilly terrain, he noted, though coordination with local authorities and communities was helping overcome challenges.

Meanwhile, emergency teams in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan regions from the Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) have evacuated more than 3,000 people from high-risk areas and are providing food, tents and temporary shelter.

“AKAH is organizing safe shelter in schools, community buildings and with host families where a total of 100 families (800 individuals) have been supported with one month of food and non-food items,” the organization said in a statement.

AKAH’s community volunteers are also working to restore damaged drinking water supply lines, irrigation channels, roads and agricultural land under extremely challenging conditions. The charity plans to deploy 16,500 mobile health care units and deliver portable medical equipment to affected health facilities.

“Village Emergency Response Teams (VERT) have been on the frontlines in Diamer, rescuing residents and stranded tourists, delivering emergency supplies and evacuating the injured to hospitals,” the statement added.

The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), has also activated its Emergency Operations Center.

“PRCS has deployed volunteers for flood awareness, conducted rapid needs assessments, and mobilized emergency stocks including water treatment plants,” the group said.

Evicted from their homes and huddling under plastic sheets after heavy rains, Afghan refugees in a park near government offices in Islamabad said they had nowhere to go as Pakistan pressures landlords to expel documented families.

Among them is Samia, 26, from Afghanistan’s Hazara minority, a Shi’ite community long persecuted at home, who gave birth just three weeks ago.

“I came here when my baby was seven days old, and now it has been 22 days … we have no food, and my baby was sick but there was no doctor,” she said on Friday (August 15), wearing damp clothes and shoes caked in mud as she cuddled her son, Daniyal whose body bore a rash. 

The United Nations says Pakistan has begun deporting documented Afghans before a Sept. 1 deadline that could force more than a million to leave.

The action comes despite about 1.3 million holding refugee registration documents, while 750,000 have Afghan identity cards issued in Pakistan.

Samia now lives on the park’s wet ground, among 200 families who cook, sleep and dry their belongings there after nights of rain. Plastic sheets serve as makeshift shelters, and children and parents spend their days battling mud, sun and hunger.

Families pool the little money they have to buy potatoes or squash, cooking small portions over open fires to share with several people. The women use the washroom in a nearby mosque.

Sahera Babur, 23, another member of the Hazara community, who is nine months pregnant, spoke with tears in her eyes.

“If my baby is born in this situation, what will happen to me and my child?” she said, adding that police had told her landlord to evict her family because they were Afghan.

Dozens of policemen stood at the edge of the park in Pakistan’s capital when Reuters visited, watching the camp. Refugees said officers regularly told them to leave or risk being taken away.

Police denied harassment. Pakistan’s information ministry did not respond to a text message requesting comment.

Many at the camp say they cannot go back to Afghanistan because of the risks.

Pakistan, host to millions of Afghans since the 1979 Soviet invasion, has stepped up expulsions under a 2023 crackdown, blaming Afghans for crime and militancy, charges rejected by Kabul.

The green grass and serene vistas in Islamabad’s park stand in stark contrast to the lives of those camping there. “My message to the world is to see our situation,” Samia said, clutching her newborn.