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More than 900 people have died since June in Pakistan due to heavy monsoon rains, a "catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude", according to the Minister of Climate Change, who will resort to international aid. The monsoon -a seasonal wind-, which usually lasts from June to September, is essential for the irrigation of the plantations and the replenishment of the water resources of the Indian subcontinent. But it also brings a lot of drama and destruction.
Flood in Pakistan
Heavy rains affected much of the country in the last 24 hours, leaving at least a dozen dead, including nine children, according to authorities. The death toll rose to 937 and more than 1,300 were wounded. Of those who died, more than 300 were children and around 200 were women.
One of the most alarming cases is that of the province of Sindh, in the southeast of the country, which is completely submerged and received 784% more rain this August than the same month in 2021. The country, in general, has received 241% more precipitation than normal.
Balochistan reported 234 deaths whereas Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab Province recorded 185 and 165 deaths, respectively. In Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, 37 people were killed while nine deaths were reported in the Gilgit-Baltistan region during the current monsoon rains. According to the NDMA, Pakistan received 166.8 mm of rain in August, as opposed to the average of 48 mm - an increase of 241 percent. Sindh and Balochistan - the worst-hit regions - witnessed a 784 percent and 496 percent increase in the monsoon deluge, respectively, the Dawn News reported.
More than 504,000 head of cattle have died, almost all of them in Baluchistan, while nearly 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) of roads and 129 bridges have been damaged, blocking access to flood-affected areas, OCHA writes.
The abnormal increase in rainfall led to flash floods across the country, particularly in the southern part of Pakistan, which is still inundated at the moment with 23 districts of Sindh declared "calamity-hit", the newspaper reported. Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said Thursday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has set up a "war room" in the NDMA, which would lead relief operations across the country. She said the incessant "monstrous" rain had "made it difficult to carry out relief operations, especially helicopter sorties".
“Pakistan is going through its eighth monsoon cycle; normally the country has only three or four cycles of
“The water is not just flowing from the north like it was in 2010, but it is just as or more devastating in its sweeping and destructive power,” he added. According to the senator, flash floods caused by heavy rains had washed away bridges and communication infrastructure in various parts of the country.
“Nearly 30 million people are homeless, thousands of them displaced and without food,” he said. Emphasizing the need for help from international donors, the minister said the need for shelter and aid was dire based on what the provinces had conveyed. Sindh has asked for one million tents and Baluchistan has demanded 100,000 tents, she said, adding that all tent manufacturers have been mobilized and external donors for tents have also been contacted.
International funds for Relief, rehabilitation
On Wednesday, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said more international funds were needed for flood relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure.
Rehman, speaking at an NDMA briefing on Wednesday, compared the situation to the record floods of 2010, but said much of Balochistan, southern Punjab and 30 districts in the Sindh region were facing a "disaster". unprecedented humanitarian.
"People are adrift, livestock and crops are damaged," Rehman said. More heavy rain and flooding are expected, and schools in Baluchistan and Sindh have been closed in anticipation of a new spell of monsoon rains expected later in the week.
China said on Wednesday that it would provide emergency humanitarian aid to Pakistan, according to a tweet from the Chinese embassy in Pakistan. The supplies would include 25,000 tents along with $300,000 in emergency cash to help Pakistan's flood-affected regions, according to the statement.
Thirty million people left homeless
As Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman pointed out at a press conference, "about thirty million people have been left homeless " and added that the government is going to launch a call for international aid.
"Given the magnitude of the catastrophe, neither the provinces nor even Islamabad can face this climatic disaster alone," he told the AFP agency, citing "lives in danger" and "thousands of homeless people."
Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to climate change. It ranks eighth among the countries most threatened by extreme weather events, according to a study by the NGO Germanwatch. (Read: Dugong: marine mammal that inspired myths about mermaids is extinct in China )
Earlier in the year, much of the country suffered from an intense heat wave, with up to 51 degrees Celsius recorded in Jacobabad in Sindh province.
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