33 million people in Pakistan affected by floods

Islamabad, Aug 29

The Pakistan government said that 33 million people have been affected by the devastating floods and warned that the number may increase as the length and breadth of the country continued to reel from the destruction caused by torrential rain and deluge. On Sunday, Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said the government, supported by the UN and other humanitarian agencies, is leading the humanitarian action, reports Dawn news.

"Kabul River is still at a 'very high flood level' at Nowshera as more than 300,000 cusecs of water was crossing the river," she said, adding that with 500,000 cusecs, water levels in River Indus at Taunsa, Sukkur and Chashma are at �high flood level'.

Calling the catastrophe �a perfect storm', the Minister added that as relentless rains battered the southern parts of the country, the floods in the Indus river ravaged the northern areas, Rehman said, Dawn reported.

She said that the economic affairs division and other ministries were working around the clock with about 35 multilateral and bilateral donors to assess needs and bridge gaps in relief efforts.

Briefing on the relief efforts, Rehman said, as the rain has abated in some areas, the National Disaster Management Authority and Pakistan Army have ramped up rescue efforts.

According to the latest data by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a total of 1,061 people have died since the rain and subsequent floods began in June with 1,575 others injured.

In the last 24 hours, 28 people, including 11 children and three women, were killed and 48 others injured.

The NDMA data also reveals that 992,871 houses, 170 bridges and 157 shops have been destroyed so far.

--IANS