Yasmin Shahbaz is one of the millions of people displaced by recent floods in Pakistan. In a Lahore shelter, she longs for the privacy and safety of her old home — but her only home right now is a crowded classroom.
On the outskirts of Lahore, floodwaters from the river Ravi have displaced thousands. Yasmin Shahbaz and her family, along with millions of other people across Pakistan's Punjab province, were forced to flee their homes.
Shahbaz is eight months pregnant. Right now, her only home is a classroom, which she shares with dozens of other evacuees. Sanitation is makeshift, and she is afraid of complications.
Pakistan: Fleeing the flood
Monsoon rains have caused severe flooding in Pakistan, forcing millions of people to flee their homes. In just one night, 122,000 people were brought to safety. But there has been criticism of the crisis management.
Image: QURATULAIN ASIM/REUTERS
Flooded city
A woman wades through a flooded street in Multan, a large city in the Punjab region. For weeks, severe flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has forced hundreds of thousands of people in Pakistan's most populous province to leave their homes. According to official figures, four million Pakistanis have been affected by the disaster.
Image: Ahmad Kamal/Xinhua News Agency/picture alliance
Got out alive
Rescue workers are using boats to bring residents of Jalalpur Pirwala to safety. According to official figures, more than 122,000 people were evacuated from the city in eastern Pakistan on Monday alone. Almost 900 people have died in the country since the monsoon season began at the end of June.
Image: QURATULAIN ASIM/REUTERS
'Some people refused to leave'
The village of Tiba Gheal is under water. "We were able to save many lives through timely evacuations, though some people refused to leave until the water reached their villages," Irfan Ali Kathia, Director General of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority, told journalists. More than 3,900 villages have been flooded since the end of August.
Image: Jahan Zeb/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Save the cities
A man pushes his motorcycle through the flooded streets of Lahore, capital of Punjab province and Pakistan's second-largest city. Authorities warn that several major cities in the region remain at risk of flooding as river levels continue to rise. Controlled dam breaches are being prepared to divert water to rural areas and thus protect the cities.
Image: Mohsin Raza/REUTERS
"We have become beggars"
Flood victims have found refuge in this tent camp in Lahore; around 80,000 people are currently living in emergency shelters in Punjab. But conditions are difficult: there is little food and the refugees are suffering from oppressive heat. "It feels like we have become beggars,” one survivor told the AP news agency. Her home and everything she owned had been destroyed.
Image: Mohsin Raza/REUTERS
Waiting for evacuation
Residents awaiting evacuation stand on the banks of the Chenab River. Criticism is mounting over the government's crisis management: Many of those affected in the flooded districts say they have received little or delayed assistance. The government, however, emphasizes that it is carrying out rescue and relief operations simultaneously and sending truckloads of relief supplies every day.
Image: QURATULAIN ASIM/REUTERS
Most devastating flood in decades
In total, the floods have displaced 2.2 million people in Punjab since August. It is the most devastating flood in the region in decades. The floods are now also spreading to the southern province of Sindh. Sindh was one of the regions hardest hit by the 2022 flood disaster, which killed 1,739 people across Pakistan.
Image: SHAHID SAEED MIRZA/AFP/Getty Images
Floods across frontiers
Keep your chin up: A man tries to bring his cattle to safety. Neighboring India is also suffering from heavy monsoon rains, leading to further tensions between the hostile countries. Pakistan accuses India of deliberately releasing excessive amounts of water from its reservoirs without timely warning, thereby exacerbating the flooding.
Image: QURATULAIN ASIM/REUTERS
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According to studies, flood exposure can increase risks of pregnancy loss, gestational hypertension, low birth weight and other health issues for mother and child. This is due to stress, poor hygiene, displacement and interruption of prenatal care.
