Affected by massive flooding, Southern Pakistan prepared for more flooding as its river beds rise after monsoon rains that killed more than 1,000 people across the country.
The level of the Indus River, which runs through Sindh state, continues to rise, fed by dozens of streams and floods affected by heavy rains and melting glaciers.
A dam official near the town of Sukkur in Sindh province, where around 500,000 people live, said the floodgates of a large dam were opened to handle the flow of more than 600,000 cubic meters per second.
Officials warned that flooding is expected to hit this southern state in the coming days, which will worsen the situation for the millions of people already affected by the floods.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who canceled a visit to the UK to oversee rescue operations, said he had never seen anything like it before. “Some villages were destroyed and millions of homes were destroyed. There is tremendous destruction,” he said after flying by helicopter over Sindh.
The Pakistani government attributes the extreme phenomena to climate change and claims that the country is suffering the consequences of irresponsible environmental practices in other parts of the world.
According to the latest report from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 1,033 people have died from heavy rains since June 119 in the last 24 hours.
One in seven is Pakistani
According to the government, more than 33 million people – one in seven – have been affected by the rains this year, and nearly a million homes have been destroyed or badly damaged.
In the state of Sindh, tens of thousands of rural residents took refuge on elevated roads or railway tracks.
Around Sukkur, tents were set up to accommodate the growing number of homeless people.
Thousands of people living near rivers in the northern part of the country were ordered to flee their homes on Saturday. Rescuers evacuated the remaining residents in the area this Sunday with the help of helicopters.
“We had to help the children and the women,” rescuer Umar Rafiq in the Swat Valley told AFP.
Dozens of properties have been washed away, including a 150-room hotel, in this tourist area famous for its mountains.
Nasir Khan, a pensioner who was affected by the floods in 2010, said he lost everything. “The part of the building that escaped 12 years ago is now flooded,” he told AFP.
The current monsoon rains, which occur between June and September each year, are similar to 2010, when around 2,000 people died and 20% of the country was flooded.
The monsoon is necessary to irrigate the crops and replenish the water resources of the Indian subcontinent. But it also contains great destruction and tragedy.
On Friday, the government declared a state of emergency and mobilized the military to face “a disaster of unprecedented magnitude,” in the words of Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman.
Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to climate change. According to a study by the NGO Germanwatch, the country ranks eighth among the countries most threatened by extreme weather events.
The flooding takes place in a very complex context for the country, which has faced a serious economic crisis and a deep political crisis since Prime Minister Imran Khan was sacked by a parliamentary no-confidence in April.
source: Noticias
