An aerial view of a flood-hit district of Sindh. Twitter
Authorities on Wednesday reported another 12 deaths due to floods across Pakistan over the previous 24 hours, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif lamented that inundated lands had left parts of the country looking like a “sea.”
In its daily report, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said total deaths since mid-June due to this year’s rains had climbed to 1,355. Of the previous day’s deaths, it said 1 man had drowned in the Neelum River; 3 children had died in Panjgur; 1 man and 1 child had died in Dera Ismail Khan; 3 men and 2 children had died in Sanghar; and 1 child had died in Naushahro Feroze. Overall, to date, 601 men, 273 women and 481 children have died due to rains and floods this year.
Meanwhile, the total number of injured climbed to 12,722, including 5,339 men, 3,400 women, and 3,983 children. The hardest-hit province remains Sindh, with 542 deaths and 8,321 injuries. In KP, 292 people have died and 351 injured, while in Punjab 191 people have died and 3,858 injured. Balochistan has reported 263 deaths and 166 injuries, while Pakistan-administered Kashmir has recorded 44 deaths and 21 injuries. Islamabad has reported just one death, while Gilgit-Baltistan has recorded 22 deaths and 5 injuries.
Authorities reported nearly 20,000 additional houses had been damaged or destroyed over the past 24 hours, with Sindh also reporting the loss of 2,042 livestock. Overall, thus far, 1.147 million homes have been partially destroyed, and 564,831 fully destroyed. The total losses to livestock have climbed to 753,187.
Of the 33 million people impacted by the floods, the NDMA said 177,265 had been rescued by authorities, while 634,749 were currently housed in camps. There are millions who have camped out on roads or are remaining with their belongings and livestock, despite persistent risks to their lives due to an ongoing flood threat in Sindh, even as waters start to recede in upstream areas.
Massive destruction
“You wouldn’t believe the scale of destruction there,” the prime minister told media in Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday after earlier visiting Sindh. “There is water everywhere as far as you can see. It is just like a sea,” he said, reiterating that the government had decided to expand the funds allocated for cash assistance to flood victims from Rs. 29 billion to Rs. 70 billion. He said the government had also decided to buy 200,000 tents on urgent basis to house displaced families, but warned that a bigger threat on the horizon was the spread of disease among people living in relief camps.
Stressing that the government would need “trillions of rupees”—Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has already said the country has suffered losses exceeding $10 billion—to overcome the calamity, he urged everyone, from Pakistan and abroad, to donate generously for relief activities.