Islamabad: The Pakistani government has submitted an emergency appeal for foreign humanitarian aid, as the death toll from the 2022 “monsoon” season has soared to more than 1,000. Flooding caused by weeks of torrential rains has left thousands of people homeless in the South Asian country, which is already recovering from a deep economic crisis.
Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari warned late Sunday that flooding triggered by this year’s excessive monsoon rains, in addition to meltwater from Pakistan’s glaciers, would worsen the country’s economic woes and that monetary assistance would be needed.
“I have not noticed a destruction of this magnitude. It’s very difficult to put it into words,” he said. “It’s overwhelming. “
According to Bhutto-Zardari, at least another 30 million people out of a total population of 220 million in Pakistan have been affected in one way or through flooding.
At least another 1,061 people died amid the floods that began with seasonal monsoon rains in mid-June, and that number is expected to rise further, as many communities in the northern highlands remain isolated due to rising rivers that wash away roads. and bridges
Army helicopters struggled to trap other isolated people through raging torrents to protect themselves in the north, where steep hills and valleys create dangerous flying conditions.
Many rivers in the domain, which is a picturesque tourist destination when the monsoon doesn’t rain, overflowed, razed dozens of buildings and added a 150-room hotel that collapsed into a raging torrent.
The rising Swat River has forced tens of thousands of others in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to flee their homes and seek safe refuge in aid camps set up in government buildings. But with so many displaced, provincial government spokesman Kamran Bangash said. Many other people were camping on the side of the roads, desperate to flood any place they could find at the top.
Bangash said some 330,000 more people had been evacuated from villages in Charsadda and Nowshehra districts alone. The devastation was also intense in the southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh.
Bhutto-Zardari said at least 1 million tents were among the most needed pieces of aid to temporarily space out other people left homeless by flooding.
Pakistan’s climate minister warned that a third of the country could be underwater until the end of this year’s “monsoon” floods. Pakistan is affected, on average, by 3 or 4 episodes of monsoon rain depending on the season, but this year has been bad. Lately, the country is grappling with its eighth steady season of incessant summer rains.
“We would possibly have a quarter or a third of Pakistan underwater,” Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s senator and deputy federal climate minister, said on Sunday.
She said Pakistan is experiencing a “serious climate catastrophe. “
“Right now we are at point 0 of the front line of excessive weather events, in an unrelenting cascade of heat waves, wildfires, flash floods, glacial lake explosions, flooding and now the monsoon of the decade is causing relentless devastation across the country. Rehman said.
He warned that global warming was accelerating the rate at which glaciers were melting in Pakistan’s mountainous north, exacerbating the effect of heavy rains. Pakistan has 7,532 glaciers, more than anywhere else outside the polar regions.
Authorities say Pakistan is unfairly bearing the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices in other parts of the world. The country ranks eighth in Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index, which lists the countries most vulnerable to excessive climate caused by climate change.
“Pakistan is facing increasingly devastating climate-induced droughts and floods. Despite generating less than 1% of the global carbon footprint, the country suffers the consequences of global inaction,” IRC Pakistan country director Shabnam Baloch. a said on Monday.
But domestic disorders don’t matter. Corruption, poor drawing up plans and non-compliance with local regulations mean that thousands of buildings have been erected in spaces prone to seasonal flooding.
Bhutto-Zardari said on Sunday that the floods would have an even greater economic impact on Pakistan than the coronavirus pandemic, and made it clear that help was needed as soon as possible.
Much of this year’s harvest has been lost, he noted, and in a country where so many people depend on agriculture for themselves and their families, “obviously this will have an effect on the overall economic situation. “
Announcing a pressing call for funding, the nonprofit International Rescue Committee said Monday that more than 30 million people were “in dire need” because of the flooding.
“Since mid-June, the monsoons have destroyed 3,000 kilometres of roads, 130 bridges and four 95,000 homes. The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan experienced between 78, four and 500% more rainfall than average and even more monsoon rains are expected in the coming weeks. With more than four million acres of crops broken and nearly 800,000 heads of farm animals dead, the IRC anticipates a sharp increase in lack of confidence in food and a serious impact on the economy,” the humanitarian organization said.
Pakistani officials echoed this fear and made it clear that they would want to get it from anywhere.
“I would expect not only the International Monetary Fund, but also the foreign network and foreign agencies to dominate the point of devastation,” Foreign Minister Bhutto-Zardari said.
The U. S. governments The U. S. and Britain pledged about $1 million in emergency aid, and the first foreign aid began arriving in Pakistan on Monday on flights from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
Pakistan already faces peak inflation, currency depreciation and a monetary deficit, and Bhutto-Zardari said he hoped the flood emergency would convince the IMF’s executive board this week to release $1. 2 billion as a component of upcoming bills for a national rescue program already underway. the Global Rescue Fund.