Pakistan volunteers search villages for flood victims
Volunteers travelling in boats on Thursday continued to search for those in need of rescue in Mehar, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, after record-breaking flooding left towns and villages in the country submerged.
Volunteers travelling in boats on Thursday continued to search for those in need of rescue in Mehar, in Pakistan’s Sindh province, after record-breaking flooding left towns and villages in the country submerged.
Footage captured by The Associated Press showed boats traveling across roads which had been turned into floodplains, while others waded through the waist-high water in search of refuge.
The unprecedented deluge, which began in mid-June, has triggered landslides and collapsed houses, killing 1,355 people and leaving over 600,000 homeless. At one point, an estimated third of Pakistan was submerged for weeks in floodwaters.
Set off by exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, the flooding has so far affected 3.3 million people, of which 177,265 have been evacuated from their homes, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
The volunteers, from various charities, last month joined the massive operation led by the government and supported by the country’s powerful military, to save as many lives as possible amid the surging waters that have destroyed crops, roads, bridges and homes.
The rescuers face an uphill struggle as many residents – especially in remote areas – refused to evacuate and stayed on in their homes, believing they would not be in danger from the floods.
Pakistan’s authorities asked the international community to send more aid to the flood victims, insisting that the country is facing a climate-change-induced tragedy.
