ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s unprecedented floods, which have submerged huge swathes of South Asian nation have killed nearly 1,500 people, data showed yesterday, as authorities looked to step up relief efforts for millions affected by disaster.

Floods brought by record monsoon rains and glacial melt in northern mountains have hit 33 million of a population of 220 million, sweeping away homes, transport, crops and livestock in damage estimated at $ 30 billion. Tally of dead stands at 1,486, about 530 children among them, National Disaster Management Authority said, as it released its first country-wide total since September 9, a period that saw 90 more people die.

Over last few weeks, authorities have thrown up barriers to keep flood waters out of key structures such as power stations as well as homes, while farmers who stayed to try and save their cattle faced a new threat as fodder began to run out. Government and United Nations have blamed climate change for surging waters, in wake of record-breaking summer temperatures, that have driven thousands from their homes to live in tents or along highways in open. Pakistan received 391 mm of rain, or nearly 190 percent more than 30-year average, in July and August. That figure climbed to 466 percent for one of worst-affected areas, southern province of Sindh.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 16 2022

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