Misery mounts for millions in Pakistan's 'monsoon on steroids'

Army helicopters flew sorties over cut-off areas in Pakistan's mountainous north Wednesday and rescue parties fanned out across waterlogged plains in the south as misery mounted for millions trapped by the worst floods in the country's history.

Monsoon rains have submerged a third of Pakistan, claiming at least 1,160 lives since June and unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called it "a monsoon on steroids" as he launched an international appeal late Tuesday for $160 million in emergency funding.

Officials say more than 33 million people are affected -- one in every seven Pakistanis -- and it will cost more than $10 billion to rebuild.

The focus for now, however, is reaching tens of thousands still stranded on hills and in valleys in the north, as well as remote villages in the south and west.

"We appeal to the government to help end our miseries at the soonest," said Mohammad Safar, 38, outside his submerged home Wednesday in Shikarpur in the southeastern province of Sindh.

"The water must be drained out from here immediately so we can go back to our homes."

There is so much water however that there is nowhere for it to drain.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman described the country as "like a fully soaked sponge", incapable of absorbing any more rain.

- 'Burning with pain' -

Pakistan has received twice its usual monsoon rainfall, weather authorities say, but Balochistan and Sindh provinces have seen more than four times the average of the last three decades.

Padidan, a small town in Sindh, has been drenched with an astonishing 1.75 metres (70 inches) since June.

Pakistan receives heavy -- often destructive -- rains during its annual monsoon season, which are crucial for agriculture and water supplies, but such intense downpours have not been seen for three decades.

Officials have blamed climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.

Earlier this year much of the nation was in the grip of a drought and heatwave, with temperatures hitting 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit) in Sindh province.

The latest disaster could not have come at a worse time for Pakistan, where the economy is in free fall.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promised aid donors that any funding would be responsibly spent.

"I want to give my solemn pledge and solemn commitment... every penny will be spent in a very transparent fashion. Every penny will reach the needy," he said.

Pakistan was already desperate for international support and the floods have compounded the challenge.

Prices of basic goods -- particularly onions, tomatoes and chickpeas -- are soaring as vendors bemoan a lack of supplies from the flooded breadbasket provinces of Sindh and Punjab.

Makeshift relief camps have sprung up all over Pakistan -- in schools, on motorways and in military bases.

Displaced people are sweltering in the summer heat with sporadic food aid and little access to water.

In Sindh, doctors treated patients who made their way to a makeshift clinic after walking barefoot through dirty floodwater, mud and streets full of debris and manure.

"My child's foot is burning with pain. My feet too," said Azra Bhambro, a 23-year-old woman who had come to the clinic for help.

In the northwestern town of Nowshera, a technical college was turned into a shelter for up to 2,500 flood victims.

The army said its helicopters had flown over 140 sorties in the past 24 hours, plucking people from cut-off areas in the north, and dropping off food and fresh water elsewhere.

Aid flights have arrived in recent days from China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, while other countries including Canada, Australia and Japan have also pledged assistance.

UN appeals for $160 mn to help worst hit in Pakistan floods
Geneva (AFP) Aug 30, 2022 - The United Nations and Pakistan launched an emergency appeal for $160 million on Tuesday as the country was submerged by floods, with the United States quickly offering $30 million.

The funds will provide 5.2 million of the worst-affected and most vulnerable people with aid including food, clean water, sanitation and emergency education, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, calling the disaster a "colossal crisis".

"Pakistan is awash in suffering. The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids -- the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding," he said in a video statement before announcing plans to visit Pakistan next week.

The United States, the largest donor to Pakistan, said it was providing a fresh $30 million for urgent needs including food, safe water and hygiene.

The US Agency for International Development in a statement announcing the aid said that one of its disaster specialists was working out of Islamabad to assess needs and coordinate with the Pakistani government and other local partners.

The United Nations said the aid would cover the initial six months of the crisis response and help to avoid outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, as well as providing nutrition to young children and their mothers.

It will also provide assistance to refugees and facilitate schemes to reunite families separated by the disaster.

"The people of Pakistan urgently need international solidarity and support," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN humanitarian agency OCHA, told a press briefing in Geneva.

He said some 500,000 people displaced by the floods were sheltering in relief camps, with many more temporarily staying with host families.

Around 150 bridges have been washed away, he said, and 3,500 kilometres (2,175 miles) of roads damaged in flooding and landslides, hampering access.

"The heavy rains are forecast to continue and with many dams and rivers already at flood levels, the flooding is likely to get worse before it gets better," Laerke said.

- Health facilities wrecked -

Tens of millions of people have been affected by relentless monsoon rains that have submerged a third of Pakistan and claimed more than 1,100 lives.

The rains that began in June have unleashed the worst flooding in more than a decade, washing away swathes of vital crops and damaging or destroying more than a million homes.

World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier said Pakistan's health facilities had been severely affected by the flooding, with 180 "completely damaged".

He said there was already a vast disparity between rural and urban healthcare provision, while treatment for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes would be "severely" impacted.

"It's a vast problem which opens up here," he said.

The UN refugee agency said there were 1.3 million Afghan refugees registered in Pakistan and it had already delivered $1.5 million worth of emergency relief and shelter items -- but "much, much more" would be needed in the coming weeks.

- 'Climate catastrophe' -

Guterres branded the floods a "climate catastrophe", saying South Asia was one of the world's hotspots where people are "15 times more likely to die from climate impacts".

"It is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner as global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising, putting all of us -- everywhere -- in growing danger," he said.

The UN's World Meteorological Organization said that Pakistan and northwest India have been witnessing an intense 2022 monsoon season.

One site at Padidan in the southern Sindh province was reporting 1,288 millimetres of rain so far in August, compared to the monthly average of 46 millimetres, said WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis.

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Pakistan floods 'worst in country's history', aid efforts gather pace
Sukkur, Pakistan (AFP) Aug 30, 2022
Aid efforts ramped up across flooded Pakistan on Tuesday to help tens of millions of people affected by relentless monsoon rains that have submerged a third of the country and claimed more than 1,100 lives. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the flooding "the worst in the history of Pakistan", adding it would cost at least $10 billion to repair damaged infrastructure spread across the country. The rains that began in June have unleashed powerful floods across the country that have washed away ... read more