Thousands of people fled their homes in northern Pakistan after a fast-rising river destroyed a bridge on Saturday, and deadly flooding wreaked havoc across the country.
In the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, heavy rains caused the Kabul River to overflow and overturn a large bridge, closing access to roads in some districts.
Authorities said fears of flooding near the riverbank had driven about 180,000 people in the Charsadda area from their homes. Some spent the night on the roads with their cattle.
The country’s climate change minister said the historic monsoons and floods in Pakistan have affected more than 30 million people in recent weeks, describing the situation as “a climate-driven humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”.
The military joined the country’s national and regional authorities to respond to the floods, and Pakistan’s military leader visited the southern province of Balochistan on Saturday, hit hard by the rains.
“The people of Pakistan are our priority and we will spare no effort to assist them at this difficult time,” said army leader General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Pakistani leaders have appealed to the international community for help and are planning to launch a fund to receive funding from other countries. The foreign ministry said Turkey has sent a team to assist in the rescue operations.
“The magnitude of the disaster is greater than anticipated,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in a tweet after visiting the flood areas.
In neighboring Afghanistan, the Taliban regime asked for help after the central and eastern cities flooded.
Authorities said the death toll from the floods in Afghanistan this month rose to 192. Thousands of cattle died and 1.7 million fruit trees were destroyed, raising concerns about how families will feed themselves ahead of colder months and as the country grapples with the economic crisis.
“We call on humanitarian organizations, the international community and other relevant institutions and organizations to help us,” Sharafudden Muslim, deputy director of Afghanistan’s disaster ministry, told reporters, adding that more than one million families need help.
source: Noticias
