Pakistan’s Manchar lake overflows triggering massive floods & destruction; over 1,300 dead: watch
Many remote areas of Sindh, roads and bridges that connect them to the main cities, are washed away. People have to wait for more than 10 days to get rescued.
Pakistan, which is facing an economic crisis, has been stormed badly by severe flooding, resulting in the killing of more than 1300 since mid-June this year. For more than a week, villagers of Sindh province are also facing food and health issues due to the overflowing of the country’s largest lake Manchar.
Though several charity organisations have joined the government’s rescue operation, they have been struggling hard while saving people from the unprecedented flooding. In many remote areas of Sindh, roads and bridges that connect them to the main cities, are washed away. In some places, people have to wait for more than ten days to get rescued by either government or by volunteers.
Koro Khan, 45, rescued from the nearby village of Sultan Bhatti, told The Associated Press that he had waited for help for 13 days. “We were stuck … I lost my house and everything,” he said, adding that he couldn’t take any of his belongings from his home and was now uncertain about his future. Mohammad Ilyas, a volunteer from al-Khidmat Foundation, a local charity,
told the news agency that he rescued dozens of people from Mehar town in the past week. Ilyas said he used to row his boat every day in the flooded region, especially in Mehar, to rescue people, including the elderly, pregnant women and children. “We are grateful to God that we saved this woman, who was about to give birth to a child,” he said.
Pakistan PM says he has never seen such devastation in his life
The situation is similar in neighbouring Baluchistan’s Naseerabad district, where a team of volunteers evacuated more than 4,000 people in the past week. Although the rains eased off and the floodwaters have receded in many parts of Pakistan, at one time, the United Nations underscored at least one-third of the country was submerged in water. It prompted the United Nations to issue an appeal for $160 million in emergency aid for Pakistan’s flood victims last week.
Since then, many countries and international aid agencies have rushed food, medicines and other supplies to Pakistan. Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited several regions of the flood-affected region including Sindh. While briefing reporters following his visit, he described the areas were resembling a sea-like layout and added he had never seen such devastation in his life before.
