Jamshoro – Archyde.com
Pakistani officials said that the economic cost of losses caused by the unprecedented floods that inundated a third of the country, is estimated at more than 10 billion dollars, and the United Nations warned that the situation might deteriorate.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s office said on Tuesday that the government has raised cash assistance to 70 billion Pakistani rupees ($315.32 million) for 1.2 million families most affected by the floods.
The Pakistan Disaster Management Agency said the floods, caused by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in the north, affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,325 people, including 466 children.
She added that regarding 636,940 displaced people were sheltered in tent villages, saying that the roaring water washed away 1.6 million homes, 5,735 km of roads and railways, 246 bridges, communication systems and 750,000 head of livestock, and inundated more than two million acres of agricultural land and destroyed cultivated and stored crops. The agency told the Cabinet that 81 districts out of a total of 160 were severely affected by the floods.
A senior official at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that with more rain expected next month, the situation might deteriorate.
“This will increase the challenges faced by flood survivors and is likely to deteriorate conditions for nearly half a million displaced people, forcing more to flee their homes,” said Indrika Ratwati, the agency’s director for Asia and the Pacific.
