Economic Losses, Recovery and Institutional Support among Farm Households after the 2025 Floods: Evidence from Depalpur Tehsil, Okara District, Pakistan

The 2025 floods on the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers affected 4.77 million people in Punjab, Pakistan, yet household-level evidence on losses and recovery remains scarce. This study quantifies economic losses, recovery and institutional support among flood-affected farm households in Depalpur Tehsil, Okara District. A structured questionnaire was administered to collect data from 120 households randomly selected within five purposively chosen flood-affected villages, and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square, and multiple regression. The average economic loss was Rs 52,937 per household, more than the average monthly household income (Rs 46,972), with crops (51.6% of total loss), housing (23.7%) and livestock (21.0%) the largest components. No household reported full recovery: 48.3% were partially recovered, 31.7% not yet recovered and 20.0% worse off than before the flood. Sixty percent received no government or NGO support, and only 3.3% named government compensation as their main source of recovery funds; households relied mainly on savings (43.3%) and informal loans (36.7%). Larger farm size, family size and income raised losses, whereas greater distance from the river and the household head’s education reduced them (R² = .64). The results indicate a recovery gap rooted in thin, in-kind and unevenly distributed support. We discuss policy implications for consideration: pre-arranged cash transfers, accessible crop insurance, flood-contingent credit, riverine early warning and coordinated district-level response.