Brussels, Belgium (14 October 2010) – The floods that swept across Pakistan since July caused an estimated $9.7 billion in damage to infrastructure, farms, homes, as well as other direct and indirect losses, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) said today.
The estimate was presented in the Damage and Needs Assessment (DNA), a survey conducted nationwide by ADB and the World Bank to assess the extent of the flood damage. The concluded survey was earlier submitted to the Government of Pakistan and today made public at the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) meeting in Brussels, Belgium.
“$9.7 billion is almost double the amount of damage caused by the 2005 Pakistan earthquake,” said Rune Stroem, ADB Country Director for Pakistan.
Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan, said that now the DNA has been completed “Our job as friends of Pakistan is to help the country respond to this enormous reconstruction challenge.”
In carrying out the assessment, ADB and World Bank teams examined the extent of the damage in 15 key sectors across Pakistan. Included in the estimate was the direct damage, indirect losses and reconstruction costs.
The DNA found that the agriculture and livestock sectors have been the worst hit, followed by complete or partial damage to a large number of houses.
Roads have been hit hard particularly at the district and village levels, and irrigation facilities have also suffered serious damage.
One-fifth of the country was affected by the floods, with the populous southern Sindh province the worst affected.
