Flooding in Pakistan was triggered by the greatest rains in more than three decades pushing around thirty per cent of the country’s land area into the water and leading to the death of at least 1,000 people and costing more than $10 billion in damage since June.
The country-wide death toll has touched 1,136 as of Monday, with over 1,634 injured and 33 million displaced, according to the latest data issued by the National Disaster Management Authority, the chief national body tasked to deal with calamities.
On Tuesday, the United Nations and the Pakistani government announced a flash appeal for $160 million to assist the country in dealing with catastrophic floods.
The money will offer food, water, sanitation, emergency education, protection, and health support to 5.2 million people, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video statement played at the Foreign Office (FO), calling the floods a “colossal calamity.”
The catastrophic weather event, which comes on the heels of some of South Asia’s highest recorded temperatures, is a “climate catastrophe,” according to Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s federal Minister for Climate Change, in a news interview shared on her Twitter account.
“Many neighbourhoods are starting to appear like they’re part of the water,” Rehman told DW News in Germany. “Our helicopter missions aren’t landing on dry land to drop food.”
With over 30 million people affected in Pakistan, the world’s fifth-most populous country, the navy has been sent for the first time, she noted.
Miftah Ismail stated there was no quick assessment of how adversely the various sectors of the economy had been damaged and that the loss could exceed his $10 billion estimate.
“I don’t have any money, but I’m hoping for a way out,” Ismail told reporters on Monday. “Pakistan is sinking. There has been so much destruction everywhere.”
Pakistan will allow duty-free imports of vegetables to offset a price increase in the domestic market caused by the floods, and will consider opening a temporary land route with India for this reason, the minister said.
Pakistan’s government has set up a nodal disaster agency to provide an institutional response to the devastating floods caused by record monsoon rains that have displaced more than 33 million or one-seventh of the country’s population.
The country’s Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday that the country would need more than USD 10 billion to rebuild the infrastructure devastated by the raging floods, which roughly translates to 3 per cent of the country’s GDP.
The Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government on Monday set up the National Flood Response and Coordination Centre, which will comprise federal ministers, representatives of armed forces, chief ministers and experts to provide proper institutional response to the calamity.
The Centre will serve as a bridge between disaster management authorities, donors and government institutions. It will collect and analyse latest information and pass it on to the relevant government agencies. It will also oversee rescue and relief work including restoration of infrastructure, the PM Office tweeted after the meeting.
The move comes as the “2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan (FRP)” is being jointly launched by the Pakistan government and the United Nations on Tuesday, simultaneously in Islamabad and Geneva.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will deliver the keynote address at the launch event, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by a video message from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to the Foreign Office.
The launch event will be attended by all UN Member States as well as various humanitarian organisations working in the area of disaster relief.
The FRP will complement the Pakistan government’s overall humanitarian response to the recent floods caused by unprecedented rains in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, aid continued to pour in as Canada announced aid worth USD 5 million, while the Chinese government pledged 100 million yuan to the Pakistan government.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said he was “saddened” to see the devastation and “hoped for an early restoration of normalcy”. Media reports suggested that discussions are currently underway on the possibility of extending help to the flood-ridden country on India’s west.
Previously, during the UPA government, India provided help to Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2010 floods and the 2005 earthquake.
United Kingdom’s premier Queen Elizabeth and her son Prince Charles on Monday extended their heartfelt condolences.
In a message to the President of Pakistan, Prince Charles said, My wife and I are deeply saddened by the devastation caused by the recent floods in Pakistan. Our hearts go out to all the victims and their loved ones and to the millions of people who have lost property and their livelihoods.
Heavy water flow downstream from the rivers in the north is threatening to burst the banks of the Indus river in Sindh province, the Express Tribune reported.
Sindh province continues to reel under the onslaught of torrential rains as acres of fertile farmlands have been washed away, suffering damages to the tune of USD 1.6 billion, according to the Dawn newspaper.
With inputs from PTI.
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