Monsoon Rains in Pakistan Kill Over 100; Millions Flee Homes
Pakistan is facing another natural disaster as almost a month of monsoon rains have killed more than 100 people in the southern region of the country and forced millions to flee their homes.
The southern and eastern provinces of the country are the hardest hit, with entire villages being destroyed.
Local rivers have swelled and water have flooded villages, forcing around 2.2 million people to flee.
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Many of the people that have perished in the monsoon rains have died due to being hit by falling roofs, drowning in floodwaters, and by contracting water-borne diseases that spread rampantly when fresh water becomes contaminated and then consumed by people.
The information minister of Pakistan’s Sindh province, Sharjeel Memon, told Bloomberg news that, “some areas have received as much as 550 millimeters of rainfall, which is the highest in ten years.”
According to authorities, 247,848 homes have been destroyed and more than 25,000 hectares of cotton, sugarcane and rice crops have been destroyed. Sugarcane, cotton, and rice are Pakistan’s most important crops, which together account for more than half of Pakistan’s crop output.
The Pakistani government is working hard to provide relief to rain and flood-affected people, and the provincial minister of Sindh has announced that the council will take all necessary measures to compensate people that have lost their homes in recent floods.
Pakistan’s monsoon season lasts until mid-September and the country’s meteorological office has forecasted more rain for the upcoming week.
Last summer, Pakistan faced massive floods that inundated much of the country and impacted more than 21 million people. Around 2,000 people died in the floods that were the worst recorded in the country's history.
The Asian Development Bank estimated that the country lost $10 billion in agriculture and infrastructure in last year’s floods.
