ISLAMABAD: The death toll from widespread flooding in Pakistan has topped 1,000 since mid-June, as the country braced on Sunday for fresh surges from swollen rivers in the country’s second-largest province of Punjab.
Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have burst riverbanks and swallowed bridges, washing away villages and fields across the country. The National Disaster Management Authority said 119 people were killed in rain-related incidents over the weekend.
The official death toll was at 1,033 as of late Saturday night, as soldiers and rescue workers evacuated stranded residents. The country’s climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, called the floods a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.”
With over 30 million people affected by the deluge, Pakistan has declared a national emergency while Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday appealed for international help in battling the deadly flood damage.
Areas along the Indus River, namely Kalabagh and Chashma in Punjab, are “likely to attain high to very high flood level” in the next 24 to 48 hours, the NDMA said in a statement issued on Saturday.
The premier on Sunday visited the southwestern province of Balochistan to monitor flood relief efforts.
“The prime minister will meet the flood victims to review the relief work and to know their condition,” his office said in a statement.
Sharif also visited Pakistan’s southeastern province of Sindh on Saturday, and took to social media to call for national unity in the face of the destructive floods.
“The magnitude of the calamity is bigger than estimated. Times demand that we come together as one nation in support of our people facing this calamity,” he said on Twitter.
“Let us rise above our differences and stand by our people who need us today.”
Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia’s KSrelief sent 950 tons of food to the worst affected areas in Pakistan. The consignment was the third to arrive from the Kingdom since the monsoon season began in mid-June.
Other countries have also answered Pakistan’s call for international assistance, such as the UK, which had announced up to £1.5 million ($1.7million) in relief efforts.
