Islamabad, 28 Aug 2022 (dpa/GNA) – Torrential rains and flash floods continue to wreak havoc in Pakistan, as the number of people killed in rain-related incidents passed 1,000 and the government appealed for international help.
The National Disaster Management Authority said 1,033 people, including 348 children, have died since mid-June. More than 100 people have died in the past day alone, it said.
The water has damaged more than 94,000 houses and over 3,400 kilometres of roads, leaving tens of thousands homeless and stranded in remote villages, the agency said in an update on Sunday.
Rescuers are busy evacuating the stranded, and it might take days to reach and re-accommodate them, while the death toll is feared to keep rising, a spokesperson for the disaster authority said.
Swollen rivers are destroying houses, bridges and roads. Social media is inundated with videos, showing flash floods washing away multi-storey buildings and hotels, in the Swat valley in the north.
Millions of people including children were at risk of waterborne diseases, in flood-hit regions, officials said.
The Pakistani government declared a national emergency, and called for international help, saying weeks of erratic rains have affected more than 33 million people, mostly in the impoverished south and southwest of the country.
GNA