Torrential monsoon rains have hit Pakistan's Punjab province, causing the area's five rivers to spill over their banks and flood more than 1,000 villages across Punjab, Azad Jammu and Kashmir provinces.
This year's flood is said to be the worst in the past five decades. The death toll in Pakistan alone is reported to be more than 240 people, and thousands more were forced from their homes. Indeed, most eyewitnesses say they have never encountered a catastrophe on this scale.
The damage was severe enough to spark a rare gesture of friendship between Pakistan and India, which has also been hit by flooding. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif assistance with relief operations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Already swimming in political turmoil, the Pakistani government was quick to begin rescue efforts for those displaced and stranded in Kashmir, parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and in Punjab.
The government has taken criticism for its response, but citizen-led efforts remain popular. Ordinary Pakistani citizens have been at the forefront of relief efforts, donating and organizing aid through several charities. Bloggers, Twitter users and citizen journalists in Pakistan have used the hashtag #PakistanFloods to call for help, promote the need for donations and rescue workers, and also to report news from the scene of the disaster.
Engineering student Jihane Akharraz, for instance, captured humanitarian efforts by ordinary people in affected areas:
Consideration to animals, commitment to education, Simply HUMANITY. Pictures taken in Kashmir #PakistanFloodspic.twitter.com/xzAZlb4IRD
— || JihaneAk (@JihaneeAk) September 7, 2014
Other Pakistani Internet users captured powerful images of the flooding, like this Facebook video from the city of Sialkot
Night War, a Pakistani Twitter user, posted pictures of half-submerged buildings in Wazirabad, one of the hardest-hit areas in Pakistan:
Buildings half submerged by floodwater after heavy rain in Wazirabad. #Punjab#Pakistan#PakistanFloodspic.twitter.com/0AZEVmK67S
— Night War (@battlehawk_) September 8, 2014
Ahmed, another citizen journalist, claims that the current crisis is the result of “criminal negligence” more than any natural disaster:
#pakistanfloods It's criminal negligence, not a natural disaster. @ChNisarAli@MaryamNSharifpic.twitter.com/mYzb6xEGNW
— Ahmed (@amePTI) September 6, 2014
But others like Fatima Ali say that the government's rescure efforts have done some good:
Since start of relief Operation, #Pakistan Army troops have rescued more than 17000 stranded people to safer places. #PakistanFloods
— Fatima Ali (@FatimaAli52) September 9, 2014
The #PakistanFloods hashtag was powerful enough that, early this week, Javed Malik, the prime minister's special envoy, used it to announce the launch of a campaign to aid flood victims:
Will be launching a campaign to raise awareness and extend support for the victims Floods in Pakistan #pakistanfloods&#IDPS
— Javed Malik (@JavedMalik) September 5, 2014
Faisal Kapadia, a Global Voices author from Pakistan, has worried on Twitter that the situation could become worse. Indeed, floodwaters continue to make their way downstream, toward Jhang and the Sindh province.
The coming monsoon rains.. seem like a tough period for us here in Pakistan...shudder to think what can happen
— FK (@faisalkapadia) September 6, 2014
This story by Ammar Faheem was originally published on our partners Global Voices Online, a community of bloggers from around the world.