Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has appealed for further international assistance after floods wreaked havoc across the country, destroying infrastructure and rendering millions homeless.
The US, UK, United Arab Emirates and others have contributed to a monsoon disaster appeal but much more funds are needed, an interior ministry official told the BBC. More than 1,000 people have died and millions have been displaced since June, Salman Sufi said. He said Pakistan’s government was doing everything in its power to help people.
The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,033, according to figures released Sunday by National Disaster Management Authority.
It said 119 people had died in the previous 24 hours, as heavy rains that have affected more than 33 million people continued to lash parts of the country.
Displaced people wait for assistance after fleeing their homes in Sindh, thousands of people fled their homes after rivers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa burst their banks, causing powerful flash floods.
The Sindh province has also been badly affected, with thousands displaced from their homes.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Salman Sufi said the country was in desperate need of more international support. “Pakistan has been grappling with economic issues but now just when we were about to overcome them the monsoon disaster hit,” he said.
Funding from a lot of development projects had been rerouted to the affected people, he added.
The full scale of the devastation in the Sindh province is yet to be fully understood, but on the ground the people described it as the worst disaster they’ve survived.
Floods are not uncommon in Pakistan but the people here told BBC these rains were different. They were more than anything that’s ever been seen here. One local official described them as “floods of biblical proportions”.
Near the city of Larkana, thousands of mud homes have sunk under water, and for kilometres all that’s visible is treetops. Where the water level is slightly lower, thatched roofs creep out from underneath the menacing water.
The needs of the survivors are varied. In one village, the people sat there are desperate for food. In another they say they’ve got their grains, but they need money to meet their other needs.
Many children have developed waterborne diseases. A mobile truck pulls over and scores immediately run towards it. Children carrying other children make their way to the long queue.
One 12-year-old girl says she and her baby sister have not eaten in a day. “No food has come here. But my sister is sick, she has been vomiting, I hope they can help.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said 33 million people had been hit by the floods – about 15% of the country’s population. He said the losses caused by floods this season were comparable to those during the floods of 2010-11, said to be the worst on record.
Officials in the country blame climate change for the devastation. But poor local government planning has also been cited as a factor that has exacerbated flooding situations in the past, with buildings often erected in areas prone to seasonal flooding.
Rajanpur district has been completely submerged by flood water. People, who used to live in the houses, are forced to live on the streets.
The difficulties of the people of Taunsa Sharif do not seem to decrease. After the heavy rains, the danger of river flooding looms. The water level in the Indus River has begun to rise. An alert has been issued to people, and they have been instructed to move to safer places.
Rains keep pounding Khairpur. Khairpur Nathan Shah is feared to be flooded again. Thousands of citizens once again took to the streets. They protested on the Indus Highway throughout the night. They demanded that the flood water be given natural way. “We cannot see our city being destroyed the way we did in 2010,” they said.
The flood-hit people protested against the lack of assistance in Shikarpur’s neighbouring village Dakhan. The protesters blocked the Shikarpur-Larkana National Highway.
On the other hand, construction for a city of tents for the flood victims has started in Tando Jam on the instructions of Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon. A large number of flood-hit people will be shifted to the tent city. Man drown in Lower Dir river; two youths die bathing in Tala Gang nullah: DG Khan on the edge as Indus River swells
An elderly person was swept away in the flow of flood in Lower Dir, whereas, two friends drowned while bathing in nullah in Tala Gang. According to the rescue sources, a 61-year-old person drowned in the flow of flood while collecting wooden sticks from a river in Lower Dir. The Rescue 1122 fished out his dead body from the river. The administration has imposed Section 144 on collecting firewood from the river. In Tala Gang, six friends drowned while bathing in a nullah. Four of them were rescued alive while the two others were recovered dead. The Rescue 1122 had fished out their bodies from the nullah.
