Floods: 37 more people die in Sindh and Balochistan

The death toll from the floods that have devastated the country rose to 1,545 during the last 24 hours, after the country reported 37 new deaths.

On Saturday, the National Disaster Management Authority said that the highest number of deaths was reported in Sindh at 32, followed by Balochistan at 5.

The authority said that 92 people were also injured due to floods in the last 24 hours. Since mid-June, the total number of injuries has increased to 12,850. Of these, 8,412 people were injured in Sindh, 3,858 in Punjab, 181 in Balochistan, 369 in KPK, 24 in AJK, and six in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,921,622 houses have been damaged, while 935,795 cattle were swept away in flood waters across Pakistan.

Children, women suffer from water-borne diseases, death toll crosses 1,500

The deluge, brought by record monsoon rains and glacial melt in northern mountains, has impacted 33 million people, sweeping away homes, vehicles, crops and livestock in damage estimated at $30 billion.

In its report, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) representative in Pakistan said an estimated 16 million children have been impacted and at least 3.4 million girls and boys remain in need of immediate, lifesaving support.

"The situation for families is beyond bleak, and the stories I heard paint a desperate picture," Reuters quoted Abdullah Fadil, Unicef Representative in Pakistan as saying.

"All of us on the ground see malnourished children battling diarrhea and malaria, dengue fever, and many with painful skin conditions," he said.

He said a lot of the mothers were anaemic and malnourished themselves, and with very low-weight babies, being exhausted or ill and unable to breastfeed.