Pakistan

Pakistan is prone to natural disasters and has suffered a series of major events in the last decade. In 2005 severe flooding affected seven million people and an additional five million were affected by the Kashmir earthquake, while in 2010 flooding affected more than 20 million people. Parts of Sindh Province and Balochistan, still recovering from the 2010 floods, were again flooded in 2011, displacing 1.8 million people.

Pakistan is affected by regional and domestic instability. Kashmir remains a disputed territory between Pakistan and India. There has been conflict in both Waziristan and Khyber Pakhtunkwhwa (formerly North Western Frontier Province) at various points over the past ten years, often related to the presence of pro-Taliban groups and the Government of Pakistan’s attempts to assert its control over these areas. In 2009, the Pakistani army launched an attack on Taliban strongholds in the Swat Valley, which led to the displacement of over two million people.

Pakistan also hosts one of the world’s largest refugee populations: 1.9 million people in 2010, mostly from Afghanistan.

Pakistan received relatively low levels of humanitarian assistance prior to 2005. Increases in the latter part of the decade have been driven by natural disaster events and by insecurity.