Pakistan continues to be subject to considerable socio-political, economic and environmental volatility, and in 2010 experienced its worst natural disaster in living memory. What started as monsoon-related flash flooding in the country�s north later developed into a crisis of national and unprecedented proportions. As rivers extraordinarily swelled to more than ten or twenty times their typical size, almost one-fifth of the country�s total landmass was submerged. Infrastructure, power and telecommunications systems were severely damaged or destroyed entirely. Millions of people were left without access to food, clean drinking water or health services; posing an enormous threat to their very survival. Amid severe damage to the agricultural sector, one of the country�s economic mainstays, peoples� prospects for recovering their livelihoods were placed under serious threat. The government has estimated that more than 20 million people across the country were affected by the crisis; of which more than 10 million were found to be in need of immediate assistance.