Floods Hit 33 Million People in Pakistan, Kill Nearly 1,000
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – At least 33 million people have been affected by deadly flooding in Pakistan, the country's climate change minister said.
Since mid-June, 937 people have died from severe rain and flooding across the South Asian country, according to the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Sherry Rehman, the minister for climate change, called the floods "unprecedented" and "the worst humanitarian disaster of this decade."
"Pakistan is going through its eighth cycle of monsoon while normally the country has only three to four cycles of rain," Rehman said. "The percentages of super flood torrents are shocking."
She highlighted in particular the impact on the south of the country, adding that "maximum" relief efforts are underway.
The NDMA, Pakistani Army, and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority are working to assist those affected -- but there is a "dire" need for shelter and relief due to the rising number of homeless and displaced families, she said.
Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal separately told Reuters that 30 million people had been affected, a figure that would represent about 15% of the South Asian country's population.
UN agency Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in an update on Thursday that the monsoon rains had affected some 3 million people in Pakistan of which 184,000 have been displaced to relief camps across the country.
The NDMA said in a report that in the past 24 hours, 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) of roads had been damaged across the country and more than 82,000 homes partially or fully damaged.
Since mid-June, when the monsoon began, more than 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) of road, 130 bridges and 495,000 homes have been damaged, according to NDMA's last situation report, figures also echoed in the OHCA report.
