Photo courtesy Instagram
UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie on Thursday sought to draw the world’s attention to the devastation wreaked by floods across Pakistan, as she urged people to push their governments to take action.
Last week, Jolie visited Pakistan through the International Rescue Committee, meeting flood-hit communities in Dadu, Sindh, and receiving a briefing on the devastation caused by climate change-induced rainfall at the National Flood Response Coordination Center. Noting that 33 million had been affected by the floods, which left a third of Pakistan under water, she stressed that more than 6 million people needed emergency humanitarian assistance.
Sharing a series of images of her trip, the actor’s Instagram post stressed that Pakistan still hosted over a million Afghan refugees who could not return to their homeland due to the situation resulting from the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. “Those I was able to reach were still in shock from having fled the Taliban, and now knowing the country they have fled to is in an emergency,” she wrote. “The level of trauma and compounded trauma is severe,” she emphasized. “Please learn and follow what is happening. Be aware of the climate catastrophe that we are seeing more regularly,” she added.
“Push governments to understand that lack of fair trade, rising emissions and failure to address conflicts are causing more death and suffering to millions of families around the world,” she stressed, echoing comments from her visit to Pakistan, when she had said the international community should “do more” to help the country in this time of crisis.
“I think this is a real wake-up call to the world about where we are at, that climate change is not only real, and it’s not only coming, it’s very much here,” she had said, while praising “the generosity that the Pakistani people have shown to the people of Afghanistan over the years” as a host country of refugees.
During her visit, according to a statement issued by the International Rescue Committee, Jolie had met flood victims in Dadu and heard of their needs that remain unmet.