Over 900 people killed in monsoon rains across country since June: Sherry

Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman revealed on Wednesday that over 900 people were killed due to monsoon rains across the country since June this year, claiming that a “humanitarian crisis” had arisen in Pakistan.

“Heartbreaking scenes of rain and flood devastation are emerging from all over the country," she said in a series of tweets.

“Since June, 903 people, including 326 children and 191 women, have died in various incidents of monsoon rains and floods.”

The minister shared that the highest number of deaths and injuries in this time period was recorded in Sindh and Balochistan.

She said that thousands of people had been displaced due to floods, promising that the government was utilising all available resources to help the flood victims across the country.

However, she noted that the local administrations and provinces needed more resources to deal with the catastrophe.

Rehabilitation of flood affectees: Govt to hold ‘donor conference’

“Thousands of people trapped in floods are waiting for rescue and relief. This is not the time for division, but for unity. We have to deal with and overcome the humanitarian crisis as a nation, not separately,” she added.

Earlier, the minister disclosed that Sindh and Balochistan were witnessing unprecedented torrential rains and there is “no question of the provinces or Islamabad being able to cope with this magnitude of climate catastrophe on their own.”

“Lives are at risk. International partners need to mobilise assistance.”

Pakistan is witnessing historically devastating rainfall and has sought aid from the international community for rescue, relief, and rehabilitation efforts.

Funding and reconstruction efforts will be a challenge for cash-strapped Pakistan, which is having to cut spending to ensure the International Monetary Fund approves the release of much-needed bailout money.

Relentless rains: Pakistan seeks aid of foreign countries

July's national rainfall was almost 200% above average, Sardar Sarfaraz, a senior official at the metrological office told Reuters on Wednesday, making it the wettest July since 1961.

According to the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), heavy monsoon rainfall and floods have affected some 2.3 million people in Pakistan since mid-June, destroying at least 95,350 houses and damaging a further 224,100.

More than 504,000 livestock have been killed, nearly all of them in Balochistan, while damage to nearly 3,000 km of roads and 129 bridges have impeded movement around flood-affected areas.

The main supply route from the port city of Karachi has been cut for more than a week after a bridge linking it to Balochistan was swept away, while dozens of small dams in the province were overwhelmed.

“Federal government has also appealed to the international development partners for assistance, so the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the flooding can be started once the water recedes,” Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives said in a Twitter post.

In Sindh, the government closed all educational institutions in anticipation of fresh rain forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, and an airport in the Nawabshah district remains closed with the airfield almost fully submerged.

“It is a climate catastrophe of epic scale, bringing in its wake the humanitarian crisis that could well match the magnitude of the big flood that was witnessed in 2010,” said Rehman.