Pakistan Flood: A third of Pakistan ‘under water right now’ due to floods: Key points | World News

NEW DELHI: The unusually strong monsoon rains have caused devastating floods in large swathes of Pakistan, affecting more than 30 million people and killing more than 1,100, and straining official relief and rescue efforts.
Pakistan receives heavy — often destructive — rains during its annual monsoon season, which are crucial for agriculture and water supplies. But the catastrophic damage from this year’s downpours and flooding has not been seen for decades.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s finance minister said that the government may explore importing vegetables and other food things from India after catastrophic floods destroyed standing crops, three years after Islamabad severed commercial relations with New Delhi over Kashmir.

Pakistani officials blame climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.

Here are key points from the current situation-
Tens of millions battle floods as death toll cross 1,100
Tens of millions of people across swathes of Pakistan were on Monday battling the worst monsoon floods in a decade, with countless homes washed away, vital farmland destroyed, and the country’s main river threatening to burst its banks.
The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,136, according to figures released on Monday by the country’s National Disaster Management Authority which said 75 people had died in the previous 24 hours.
It said that about 992,871 houses were totally or partially damaged, leaving millions without access to food, clean drinking water and shelter.

Around 7,19,558 livestock are also dead, as millions of acres of fertile farmlands have been inundated by weeks of constant rains.
1/3rd of Pakistan is under water
Climate change minister Sherry Rehman on Monday said a third of the country was under water as a result of flooding caused by record monsoon rains and created a crisis of “unimaginable proportions”.
“It’s all one big ocean, there’s no dry land to pump the water out,” she said, as the country wrestles with floods that have affected 33 million people.

Saddened to see devastation caused by floods in Pakistan: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan and hoped for an early restoration of normalcy.
The death toll from the devastating floods in Pakistan neared 1,100 Monday. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led cash-strapped government has made a desperate appeal for aid to deal with the crisis that has displaced 33 million or one-seventh of the country’s population.
“Saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods in Pakistan. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the injured and all those affected by this natural calamity and hope for an early restoration of normalcy,” Modi said in a tweet.

Pakistan can consider importing vegetables, other edible items from India: Finance minister
Pakistan’s finance minister Miftah Ismail on Monday said the government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India following the destruction of standing crops due to massive floods, three years after Islamabad downgraded trade ties with New Delhi over Kashmir.

Addressing a press conference here, finance minister Ismail said that the government could “consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India” to facilitate people after recent floods destroyed crops across the country, state-owned Radio Pakistan reported. He made the comment in response to a question.
Pakistan downgraded its trade relations with India in August 2019 after India’s decision to revoke Article 370 that granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
2022 floods are comparable to those of 2010 — the worst on record
This year’s flooding has affected more than 33 million people — one in seven Pakistanis — said the National Disaster Management Authority.
Flood victims have taken refuge in makeshift camps that have sprung up across the country, where desperation is setting in.

Millions of acres of rich farmland have been flooded by weeks of non-stop rain, but now the Indus is threatening to burst its banks as torrents of water course downstream from tributaries in the north.
Flooded highways hamper relief efforts
The southern Pakistani province of Balochistan has suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage due to devastation from flooding as damage to highways hampers relief efforts, the province’s chief minister said on Monday.

In the north, residents and officials said villages were almost entirely cut off from the rest of the country due to destruction wrought by heavy rains.
Pakistan seeks help from world
The Shehbaz Sharif government has launched an international appeal seeking funds for relief and rehabilitation of flood-hit people across the country. The Pak PM also appealed to the nation to extend help to the flood-stricken people as the government needs additional funds to rehabilitate the flood victims.
This unprecedented emergency situation comes amid the rising political tension in the country over a terrorism case filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

‘Everything is destroyed’: Survivors plead for aid
After nearly two weeks of incessant downpours this month, there was nothing left but damaged walls, debris and piles of people’s belongings poking out among pools of brown floodwater and grey mud.
Tens of millions residents are hit across Pakistan by the worst monsoon floods in a decade, which have destroyed or damaged nearly a million homes and killed more than 1,000 people since the rains began in June.

International aid trickles
The death toll from the devastating floods in Pakistan neared 1,100 on Monday, as international aid began to trickle in following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led cash-strapped government’s desperate appeal for aid to deal with the crisis that has displaced 33 million or one-seventh of the country’s population.
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman called it the “monster monsoon of the decade,” while Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the floods have impacted Pakistan’s economy by USD 10 billion.

Unable to cope with one of the worst catastrophes, Pakistan sought international help and the world has responded, with humanitarian assistance and solidarity messages coming from several countries.
Citing an aide to Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif, the BBC said the country was desperate for international support. The US, UK, UAE and others have contributed to a disaster appeal, but more funds are needed, officials said.
Floods inflict $10 billion loss on Pakistan
The devastating flash floods in Pakistan have inflicted a loss of at least $10 billion on different sectors of the country’s struggling economy, according to Minister for Finance Miftah Ismail.
Miftah said these were the initial assessments that might escalate after conducting surveys on the ground, The News reported.
The Minister however, did not have the details of the losses faced by each sector of the economy at the moment.
Asked whether the country had taken the donors into confidence on the initial assessment of damage, he replied in the negative.
(With inputs from agencies)