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Pakistan death toll spikes overnight

28 Aug 2022 - 12:51

Over the past 24 hours as heavy rains continue to lash in Pakistan, and at least 119 people have died.


Afghan Voice Agency (AVA)_Monitoring, According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) the death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,033.

The NDMA said more than two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out, 3,451 kilometers of roads destroyed, and 149 bridges washed away.

Thousands of livestock had been killed and 1.7 million fruit trees destroyed, raising concerns over how families would feed themselves going into the cooler months while the country deals with an economic crisis, TRT reported.

Powerful flash floods in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa caused the Kabul River to swell, sweeping away a large bridge overnight, cutting off some districts from road access.

Downstream, fears of flooding around the river banks prompted around 180,000 people in the district of Charsadda to flee their homes, according to disaster officials, with some spending the night on highways with their livestock.

Historic monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan have affected more than 33 million people over the last few weeks, the country’s climate change minister said, calling the situation a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”.

The military has joined the country’s national and provincial authorities in responding to the floods and Pakistan’s army chief on Saturday visited the southern province of Balochistan, which has been hit heavily by the rains, TRT reported.

“The people of Pakistan are our priority and we won’t spare any effort to assist them in this difficult time,” said army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Pakistani leaders have appealed to the international community for help and plan to launch an international appeal fund. The foreign affairs ministry said Turkey had sent a team to help with rescue efforts.

“The magnitude of the calamity is bigger than estimated,” said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a tweet, after visiting flooded areas.
 


Story Code: 257746

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https://www.avapress.com/en/news/257746/pakistan-death-toll-spikes-overnight

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