Tent prices doubled as demand surges due to KP floods

Prices of the items like food and other essentials have skyrocketed in the past few days

Kamran Ali

Updated 01 Sep, 2022

Pakistan

Displaced people take refuge along a highway after fleeing from their flood hit homes following heavy monsoon rains in Charsadda district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on August 27, 2022. AFP file photo

Children stand outside tents after their families took refuge following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Dera Allah Yar in Balochistan. Reuters file photo

In the wake of the flood-led disasters that triggered a demand for tents, the prices of all kind of tents (waterproof, fabricated and others) have been increased by up to Rs10,000.

According to the latest reports, the prices of tents have been increased by Rs10,000 while the prices of tarpaulin have also risen by 50% due to increased demand from flood victims as well as relief agencies trying to get essential supplies to them.

Shopkeepers say manufacturers are to blame for the increase in prices.

This price hike has placed additional burden on local philanthropists and NGOs, already in dire straits, as they scurry for additional funds to aid flood victims.

This increase comes at the same time when prices of food and other essentials have skyrocketed in the past few days. Consumer price index (CPI) based inflation hit 27.3% on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in August 2022, the highest inflation witnessed in the country in almost 50 years.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers set arbitrary prices after the supply chain was disrupted by floods. The price for tomatoes is at least sixfold higher than the government rate while onion is being sold at five times the official rate.

The shopkeepers have blamed staggeringly high prices on market forces, saying that they bought vegetables at high rates from the wholesale market.

Thousands of people in flood-hit areas have lost their houses and now they are in dire need of tents.

According to the PDMA statistics, 264 people including 36 women and 106 children have been killed while 327 people have been injured since mid-June in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The most affected calamity- hit districts of the province were Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Tank and Kohistan where floods and rains inflicted heavy losses on human lives, houses and standing crops.

Historic monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan have affected more than 30 million people over the last few weeks, the country’s climate change minister said.

Over a million houses have been damaged, including 300,000 that have been completely swept away.

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