“The situation is very serious. It is terrible. In Punjab alone, there are over one and a half million people who have been made homeless due to the floods. These people live on the streets, and it is an enormous effort to care for them. In my parish of Bhai Pheru, south of Lahore, today we helped 32 families who no longer have anything, neither homes nor fields, by giving them food so they can survive,” Father Qaiser Feroz OFM Cap told Fides about the emergency suffered by the population of the province in central Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government has launched one of the largest evacuation operations in recent years, after the rains and flooding of the rivers have displaced over 1.5 million people in the province. Extremely severe flooding in the Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab rivers has claimed 17 more lives in the past few hours, as the province experiences its worst flooding in 40 years, with hundreds of villages destroyed and agricultural land completely submerged.

“The water has inundated houses and buildings, including churches, and farmland. It has caused massive devastation to the province. The Christian communities are trying their best, but this is the worst flooding in decades, and resources are inadequate,” says Father Feroz, also pointing to the plight of children: “Approximately 25 million cannot go to school and will not be able to do so for who knows how long,” he notes, adding that more than 200 children have died in the floods in the past two months, adding to the approximately 800 flood victims so far.

Heavy monsoon rains and the release of excess water from dams in Indian territory have caused the three rivers Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab, which flow through the Punjab region, to swell, forcing authorities to breach their banks in some places, leading to flooding in over 1,400 villages. The refugees come from hundreds of towns in Punjab, including Jhang, Shorkot, Khanewal, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Shujaabad, Jalalpur Pirwala, and Alipur.

The government is setting up temporary shelters and medical aid centers for the displaced and ensuring they are provided with essentials such as food, water, and hygiene items. In addition, 200,000 head of livestock have been relocated to safe locations. The Disaster Management Authority said about 700 temporary shelters and 265 medical aid stations have been set up in the flood-affected areas, while compensation payments are also being considered.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, visited the affected areas yesterday, August 28, and lamented that the crisis was exacerbated by India’s opening of dams, which increased the volume of water in the rivers and accelerated the flooding.