Pakistan is experiencing a monsoon that is stronger than ever. The government declares a state of emergency and reports hundreds of deaths.
Islamabad – Pakistan has declared a state of emergency due to the ongoing rains and resulting floods. In addition, the country asked for international help to deal with the disaster on Thursday.
However, the number of deaths continues to rise: According to the latest figures from the National Disaster Management Agency, 937 people have already lost their lives. As a spokesman for the authority of the German Press Agency reported, 33 million people were also without a permanent home due to the floods. That is 15 percent of the Pakistani population. “We are currently setting up two million emergency shelters,” the spokesman said. The military also help with evacuations.
In the particularly affected region of Balochistan in the south-west of the country, authorities ordered schools to close earlier this week. But the northwest of the country is also struggling with destroyed houses, bridges and roads due to the rain. Welthungerhilfe reported that in some regions a large part of the fields had been destroyed by the water masses. “People have lost their livelihoods,” the organization said.
Pakistan has been suffering from unusually heavy monsoon rains since mid-June. The Pakistani climate protection minister spoke on social media on Thursday of the heaviest rainfall in the country’s history. Meteorologists were also warning of record floods at the end of June. Pakistan was hit by an unusually early heat wave in the spring. Experts blame climate change for the increase in natural disasters in the South Asian country dpa
