2014 INDIAPAKISTAN FLOODS

Gilgit

AFGHANISTAN

Kab
ul

Kab
ul

KunarSwat

Srinaga
r

Sohan

T
o
c
hi Chena

Gb
u
m
a
l
Zhob

Jhelam

Islamaba
d

Indus

Bea

Jhelam

Chenab
Ravi

Satluj

Afected
areas

India

Kunhar Kishen Ganga

Kabul

K
u
r
r
a
m

Kundar

Shyok

CHIN
A

Amritsas
r
Lahore

According to the Home

Ministry of India, several
thou-sand villages across the
state had been hit and 390
vil-lages
had
been
completely submerged. In
actual figures 2600 villages
were reported to be afected
in Jammu and Kashmir, out of
which 390 villages in Kashmir
were com-pletely submerged.
1225 villages were partially
afected

PAKISTAN
New
Delhi

Panjnad

Indus

INDIA
Hyderabad
NEPA L

[9]

and 1000 villages were afected in Jammu Division

[10]
Many parts of Srinagar, including the Border
Security Force (BSF) HQ in Sanant Nagar & Army
cantonment in Badam Bagh, were inundated, and vital
[11]
roads were sub-merged, by the floods.

ARABIAN
SEA

The Indus river system,

which flows in the northern
region of India and Pakistan
is formed by major rivers of
Indus,
Jhelum,
Chenab,
Ravi, Beas and Sutlej
In September 2014, the
Kashmir region sufered
disas-trous floods across
many of its districts caused
by tor-rential rainfall. The
Indian administrated Jammu
and Kashmir, as well as
Pakistan administered Azad
Kash-mir,
Gilgit-Baltistan
and Punjab were afected
[5]
by
these
floods.
By
September 24, 2014, nearly
[6]
277 people in India
and
about
280
people
in
Pakistan had died due to
the floods.

dan-ger mark. The discharge

rate in the river was recorded
3
as 70000 m /s against the
normal discharge of 25000
3 [7][8]
m /s.
The Chenab River
was also reported to flow
above the danger mark by
which hundreds of villages
were afected in Pakistan.
These rivers flooded into the
streets
causing
heavy
casualties
and
loss
of
property.

Origin
The Jammu and Kashmir
state and adjoining areas received heavy rainfall from 2
September 2014 onwards,
during last stage of monsoon
in
India.
This
triggered
flooding and landslides in
India and the adjoining areas
of Pakistan. On 5 September,
the Jhelum River in Srinagar
was reported to be flowing at
22.40 feet (6.83 m) which
was 4.40 feet (1.34 m) above
the danger mark and at 33
feet (10 m) at Sangam in
Anantnag district above the

Kashmir 981

Pakistan
The strongest post monsoon
storm
ever
recorded
in
Pakistans recorded history
took place on the 3rd of
September on a very low
pressure
system
which
started to afect parts of
Jammu and Kashmir and
north-east Pakistani districts
of Sialkot, Lahore, Narowal,
Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin,
Gujranwala,
Hafizabad,
[12]
Sheikhupura.
By fourth,
the rains became more
widespread as the northern
Punjab, Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
including the twin cities of
Rawalpindi/Islamabad,
Mangla, Rawalakot, Kotli and
Jhelum.
The
heaviest
amounts of rainfall however
were recorded on the 4th and
5 September as several
weather stations broke their
24-hour, 48-hour and total
monthly rainfall records for
the month of September.

The chief amounts of

total rainfall (in mm) as a
result of this spell is as
follows:
(recorded
between the 3rd and 5
September)

Lahore: Airport 498,

Shahi Qila 466, Misri
Shah 453, Shahdra
452, Upper Mall 389,
Jail Road 379
Sialkot
:
Cantt
471,
Airpor
t 346
Rawal
akot,
Azad
Kash
mir
464
Kotli,
Azad
Kash
mir
410

Rawalpindi: Airport
336, Shamasabad

Palandari,
Rawalakot, Azad

311, Bokra 208

Gujranwala: 286
a

Kasur 280
Islamabad:

(Zero

Point) 274, Saidpur

268,
209
O

Golara

Sharif

2
5
7

k
a

r
a
t

2
3
1

M
u
r
r
e

Live events
On September 8, in many
parts
of
Srinagars
neighbour-hood, the water
was about 12 feet (3.7 m)
deep, submerg-ing entire
houses. Stranded residents
left their homes to move in
with friends or relatives in
[13]
safer areas.
The death
toll till September 10 had
crossed 190 in Kashmir
valley and areas afected
by the floods were mostly
dis-tricts in South Kashmir.

Consequences
India

2
0
4

J
h
e
l
u
m

2
0

Pakistan
Flow of destruction as flood
water entered Multan villages. While the Trimmu Head
works was saved from the
peak flood discharge, more
than 350 villages in Jhang
District were flooded due to
the breaches made at two
places in Athari Hazari dyke,
leaving trail of destruc-tion
behind. As the floodwater
moved further south, wa-ter
level started increasing at
Panjnad and had reached
116,000
cusecs,
flooding
areas in Mittan Kot and 300
villages in Multan District.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said
that 257 people had been
killed and more than 1.1

In Srinagar, most of the city

areas were submerged under water. The river Jhelum
spilled over submerging
[14]

Sonwar Bagh, Shivpora,

Batwara, Pandrathan, LalChowk, Rajbagh, Jawahar
Nagar, Gogji Bagh and
Wazir Bagh neighbourhoods
of city. The first and the
second storey of the houses
and hotels in Rajbagh that
were packed with tourists

[15]

were
submerged.
According
to
Omar
Abdullah, the Chief Minister
of Jammu and Kash-mir
then, boats had been
brought from Delhi to help
with evacuations, and the
air force had begun rescue
opera-tions in the city.

[16]

50 bridges were reported to

have been damaged across
the state. The preliminary
assessment of damages to
property was estimated
between INR 5000 cr to INR
6000
cr.
The
state
government requested the
central gov-ernment for
25,000
tents
and
40,000,000 blankets for the

million were afected by the

[20][21]
floods.
According to
reports, the Trimmu Head
works,
safely
discharged
650,000 cusecs of water
result-ing in the water levels
to recede. Three people were
re-ported killed in Jhang and
nine in Chiniot. Due to massive rain in Jammu and
Kashmir as well as Azad
Kash-mir and in Pakistani
Punjab
constituted
flood
situation in River Chenab and
[21]
River Jhelum.

Rescue
operations
India
IAF rescue

[9]

afected people.
There
was a total estimated loss
of 1 trillion to Kashmir
division alone.
In the Jammu Division,
landslides
triggered
by
heavy rainfall had damaged
roads, dozens of bridges,
build-ings
and
crops.
Vehicular trac had been
stopped on the JammuPathankot highway. Katrabound trains were halted.
Haj flights scheduled up to
12
Septem-ber
were
[17]
postponed.
The JammuPathankot national highway
was opened on September
8, after the water level
[18]
receded.
Srinagar-Leh
Highway
reopened
for
[19]
trac on 9 September.
The Prime Minister of India
Narendra Modi called it a
national calamity.

Main
Armed
Jammu

article:

Indian and medicines. 300 boats

Forces
and were dispatched to South

and

Kashmir

Floods 2014
Home Secretary of India Anil
Goswami said 82 air-craft and
helicopters, 10 battalions of
Border Security Force,329
columns of Indian Army and
300 boats were used in the
rescue operations. According
to home secre-tary, 10 VSAT
systems were air lifted to
restore
critical
telecom
towers and a satellite link
from Bardula had been
provided
for
crucial
communication. The Indian
Army showing their ingenuity
used some old fashioned
Indian Juggar and converted
their
trucks
to
mobile
charging plat-forms for the
people to charge their mobile
[2][22]
phones.
Two IL 76, One
C-130J and one AN 32 aircraft
carried a total of 50 tonnes of
supplies including food, water

Local rescue
Lt. General Subrata Saha of
the Indian Army said that the
rescue eforts of the Army
would not have been possible
without the assistance and
[25]
eforts of the local youth.
Every second or third boat of
the Army went to the lo-cal
volunteers.
The
Army
salutes the eforts put by the
youth of the Valley, he said.
If not for these lo-cal youths,
who have guided us to reach
the places, I cannot say how
we would have been able to
[26]
accomplish the mission.
The daily Rising Kashmir
quoted an In-dian Army
trooper saying that, while the
Army was do-ing its bit to
rescue the people, it could
not match the job done by
the locals. The trooper further

Kash-mir for excavation of

people
from
submerged
[7]
areas.
Armed
Forces
including
Border Security
Force (B.S.F) and National
Disaster
Response
Force
(NDRF) rescued over 200,000
people from diferent regions
[23]
of Jammu and Kashmir.
Bharat
Sanchar
Nigam
Limited (BSNL) launched an
operation on a war-footing
with Indian Army and Indian
Air Force (IAF) to restore
mobile
services
through
satellite network and the
[24]
telecom network.

Home Ministry had been

sent
to
Srinagar
to
monitor
res-cue
operations.
The
government also set up
control rooms in Delhi and
asked people to approach
it with details of their
trapped families.

[17]

stated that the Indian news

channels focused on covering
the Army more than the
plight of the victims, which
was
causing
resentment
[27]
among the local people.
The total of about 200,000
people
were
rescued,
including 87,000 from Sri-

nagar city.[1][2][23][28]

Pakistan
The Pakistani Army and the
Pakistani Air Force car-ried
out most of the rescue
operations like dropping
food packets, packaged
drinking water and winching stranded people from
their roof tops using helicopters,etc.
The
United
Jihad
Council,
which
includes the militant groups
of
Al-Qaeda,
Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT) and Jaish-eMohammed (JeM), said that

they would sus-pend all the

operations
against
the
Indian army in Kash-mir and
help the victims even
though this was brushed
aside as a gimmick.

[29]

Relief

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi
and Jammu and
Kashmir
Chief
Minister
Omar Abdullah at a high
level
meeting,
on
7
September 2014, to assess
the situation arising out of
incessant rain and floods in
the state.

Prime Minister of India did

not allow the foreign aid
to

Kashmir.

The

Prime

Minister of India, Narendra

Modi, ofered an assistance

of 745 crore (US$110 million)
to
the
state
government, this was in
addition to 1,100 crore
(US$160
million)
already
earmarked for the disaster.
[30]
Chief
Minister
of
Maharashtra
and
Chief
Minister
of
Telangana
announced an aid of 10
crore (US$1.5 million) each
from the chief ministers
relief fund for the rescue and
relief for Jammu and Kash-mir
flood victims, in addition to
that
Government
of
Telangana
has
also
announced to send 50 water
purifiers worth 2.5 crore
(US$370,000)
for
safe
drinking water for flood
[31][32][33]
afected areas.
Also,
Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh,
announced an assistance of
5 crore (US$740,000) each
and ap-pealed to the people
to come forward and help
those in

need.[18][34][35][36]

Jammu and Kashmir Chief

Minister Omar Abdullah announced relief package for
those afected by the
floods. It included Rs.200
crore assistance for Jammu
region and the valley and
Rs.3.5 lakh for the kin of
those who lost their lives in
the disaster which includes
Rs.2 lakh an-nounced by
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. Omar also announced
financial assistance of Rs.
75,000
as
initial
installment for those who lost
their homes. Free food supply will be supplied to the
afected for six months
which includes 50 kg of
[37]
rice.
The United India Insurance
Company also presented a
cheque of Rs. 1 crore to

Jammu and Kashmir Chief

Minister Omar Abdullah for
flood-afected people of the
[38]
State.
People
from
unafected areas of Kashmir
set
up
relief
camps,
collected and distributed
relief among flood-ravaged
people of Srinagar city.
Jammu
and
Kash-mir
government ministers have
called it the equivalent of
Hurricane
Katrina
in
[39]
Kashmir.
Further, to help
the people of Jammu &
Kashmir, to build back all
the damaged infrastructure,
a student-professor duo,

Saqib Gulzar and A. R. Dar

at NIT Srinagar came up
with
Pre-liminary
Guidelines
for
Repair,
Restoration, Retrofitting &
Rebuilding
of
Building
Structures in Flood Aected
Areas of Jammu & Kashmir.
[40]
These guidelines were
well
re-ceived
by
the
people of Jammu and
Kashmir and helped them
in
building
back
the
infrastructure damaged by
the floods.

References
[1] Kashmir floods: phones down, roads submerged; toll touches 200, rescue ops on. Hindustan Times.
8 Septem-ber 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
[2]

[2] India and Pakistan Strain as Flooding Kills Hundreds. New York Times. 8 September 2014.
Retrieved 9 September 2014.
[3] Jammu and Kashmir flood tolls climbs up to 160, Raj-nath Singh assures help. The Economic Times. IANS.
6 September 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
[4] Rupam Jain Nair (10 September 2014). Tempers flare as mass flood evacuations begin in Kashmir.
Reuters.

[5] Floods, rains claim 128 lives in Punjab, AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan: NDMA. Business Recorder. 7
September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
[6] J&K floods: Death toll mounts to 284. Zee News. Re-trieved 28 September 2014.
[7]
Greater

newspap
ocial webKashmir er
Retrieved on 7 September
site.
2014.http:
//www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2014/S
ep/5/
kashmir-floods-throw-life-out-of-gear6.asp

[8] Flood Situation Grim in Jammu and Kashmir, Army Called for Rescue Eforts. New Indian Express. 5
September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.

[9] Newspaper economic times ocial website. http://m.economictimes.com/news/politics-andnation/ jammu-and-kashmir-flood-toll-rises-to-120/ articleshow/41853523.cms

[10]

News online .http://www.redif.com News

[11]J&K Floods: Situation grim in Kashmir, Army canton-ment flooded; death toll mounts to 160 . Zee
News. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
[12] High flood in River Chenab puts Qadirabad at risk. Geo News. 6 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.

[13] Water 12 Feet Deep in Many Parts of Srinagar. NDTV. September 8, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2014.

[14]

jhelum Bund breached at shivpora srinagar at more than 7 places. Faisal Wani.

[15]
Srinagar: People trapped, city submerged, administra-tion missing. The Indian Express. 7
September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
[16]

India Pakistan floods: Kashmir city of Srinagar inun-dated. BBC.

[17]
Thousands Stranded in Srinagar, 375 Dead in Worst Floods in 60 Years. NDTV. 8
September 2014. Re-trieved 8 September 2014.
[18]
Jammu & Kashmir floods: IAF, Army, NDRF step up rescue operations; 160 dead,
thousands still stranded. Zee News. 8 September 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
[19]
Srinagar- Leh Highway reopened for trac. The In-dian Express. 9 September 2014.
Retrieved 10 Septem-ber 2014.
[20]

Pakistan Rushes to Protect Cities From Floods. NDTV.com. Retrieved 16 September 2014.