US congressional delegation meets climate minister, vows to support flood-affected people

Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday met the US Congressional delegation, headed by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and apprised them of the current relief efforts and the assistance required for rehabilitation of the flood-affected areas and population, APP reported.

The delegation comprised Congressman Tom Souzzi, Congressman Al Green, and US Ambassador Donald Blome.

The delegation expressed solidarity with the people of Pakistan and great concern on the devastation wreaked by the rains, promising full support to Pakistan in these trying times.

Pakistan struggles to avert danger as floods rise, death toll tops 1,300

While explaining the ongoing relief efforts, the minister for climate said: “The devastation on the ground is much more than we encountered in the 2010 floods. This time, however, we are unable to find dry ground to land our helicopter sorties providing relief. We had a cataclysmic start to the year, with temperatures reaching 53 degrees in Sindh followed by heatwaves and 3 times the normal amount of GLOFs.

The South remains inundated, posing danger to human health now. Despite relief efforts from the government, NDMA, PDMAs and Pak Army, we are under-resourced. 33 million people have been impacted severely. We have appealed to our bilateral and multilateral partners in this time of need.”

Talking about the imminent health crisis, Rehman said that “there are far-reaching impacts of these floods which have unleashed on Pakistan for 9 weeks now. The situation on the ground is still worrying in terms of relief and rescue."

"It is a national emergency. We are now heading towards a health emergency due to water-borne diseases. We need urgent relief funds to deal with this emerging crisis. We really appreciate US assistance and support in this moment of great crisis."

The US congressional delegation expressed condolences and deepest regret on the loss of lives and commitment to helping Pakistan in these trying times and advocating for funding in the US.

Pakistani authorities are struggling to prevent the country’s biggest lake from bursting its banks and inundating nearby towns after unprecedented flooding, while the disaster management agency on Monday raised its toll of flood deaths by another 24.