Flood-hit Pakistan set to face more monsoon rain: flood in Pakistan
More than 1,300 people have died and millions have lost their homes in flooding caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan this year that many experts have blamed on climate change.
More than 1,300 people have died and millions have lost their homes in flooding caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan this year that many experts have blamed on climate change.
In response to the unfolding disaster, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the crisis. He plans to visit flood-hit areas on Sept. 9.
In its latest report, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority put the death toll since mid-June – when monsoon rains started weeks earlier than is typical – at 1,314, as more fatalities were reported from flood-affected areas of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces. The report said 458 children were among the dead.
Rescue operations continued over the weekend with troops and volunteers using helicopters and boats to get people stranded out of flooded areas to relief camps, the authority said.
Tens of thousands of people are already living in such camps, and thousands more have taken shelter on roadsides on higher ground.
