The Center for Business and Economic Research estimates the large scale flooding in Pakistan has caused $7.1 billion in damages, according to a new joint study from Ball State and the University of Tennessee.
The flooding, which began in July, has killed an estimated 1,500 people and has affected about one-fifth of Pakistan's territory.
Two Ball State undergraduate students and one graduate student aided in the research for the study by collecting data on more than 300 international floods dating back to 1950.
The students compiled data primarily on each flood's numbers, including the number of people who died, the number of people who were directly affected and the estimated damage in U.S. dollars.
Srikant Devaraj, senior research associate and project manager at the CBER, said the students used various sources to gather data on these major floods.
Michael Hicks, director of the CBER, said flood studies are compiled so that those responding to the damages have a better understanding of what level of help is needed.
"We said $7.1 billion in infrastructure and $2.1 billion in lost earnings," Hicks said. "That gives the U.S. government an idea of what response is necessary to ensure that they are helping people."
According to a press release, the study estimated $4.3 billion in structural and content damage, which included $2.1 billion in losses to residential contents and $1 billion to public buildings.
Hicks estimated that Pakistan's transportation systems were affected severely by the rains and resulting floods, with road damage estimated at $148 million and rail damage at $131 million, including bridges, the press release said.
The Army Corps of Engineers, the federal agency responsible for dealing with flood and infrastructure damages, contacted the CBER to conduct the study and Hicks invited Tennessee's Marc Burton to aid Ball State with its research.
Hicks said the CBER used a model when determining Pakistan's estimated flood damage costs. This same model was used in 2005 when completing a study on the potential damages of Hurricane Katrina. The CBER estimated the damages to be $156 billion, and the official U.S. estimate was $150 billion.
"It will be weeks before effective damage inventories can start and months before they are complete," Hicks said in the press release. "What the current analysis seeks to do is anticipate the aggregate monetary value of these inventories — at least to an order of magnitude — so that policymakers and policy operatives will immediately be able to prepare the way for restoration."
Total loss from flooding in Pakistan
$7.1 billion in infrastructure
$2.1 billion loss in economic activity and trade disruption
$9.2 billion total estimated economic effect
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