Whether trying to live in concert with it or trying to control it, humans will always be impacted by the chaotic whims of Mother Nature. The floods that have ravaged Pakistan over the last two months are an extreme example. Here are some astonishing statistics.

• Nationwide, the flood has displaced 20 million people, destroyed 1.2 million homes and nearly 8,000 schools, swamped a quarter of Pakistan’s agricultural land.
• 70 percent of the roads and bridges in affected areas have been washed out
• The Indus River’s 2000-mile valley is among the longest-settled and most densely populated places in the world. Pakistan is 307,000 square miles, a bit bigger than Texas; but where Texas has 25 million people, Pakistan has about 170 million. About 100 million Pakistanis are said to live in the valley.
• Pakistan’s annual monsoon rain usually produces about 280 millimeters (10 inches) of rain across July and August. This year, districts near the headwaters got 300 millimeters over the 48 hours of July 29th-30th; in the extreme case, Risalpur got 415 mm in the last week of July.
• As in many countries Pakistan has tried to control irrigation and insulate cities from normal flooding. Levees can reduce the size of wetlands that normally reduce flood impact, while canals draining from the bottom can leave waterlogged lands unable to sop up a heavy rain. American experience suggests that such constructions make floods rarer, but also can turn large floods into exceptionally damaging events.

[Source DLC Trade Facts]