After touring flood-affected districts, Pakistan’s Prime Minister declared that the “calamity’s enormity” is greater than anticipated.
Shehbaz Sharif was speaking from Sindh province, where August rainfall has been approximately eight times higher than usual.
Since June, floods have killed almost 1,000 people in Pakistan, uprooted thousands more, and affected millions more.
Every village the BBC passed through in Sindh contained displaced persons.
Although the extent of the destruction in the province is still not entirely realized, the locals called it the biggest calamity they had ever survived.
In Pakistan, flooding is not unusual, but locals claimed that these rains were unlike anything they had ever experienced. They were “floods of epic proportions,” according to one local official.
Numerous thousand mud houses have submerged near Larkana. Treetops are the only thing visible for miles. Thatched rooftops can be seen peeking out from under the water where the water level is a little lower.
People in one village are starving to death. In another, numerous kids have been ill with waterborne illnesses.
Numerous people rushed over to the mobile truck as soon as it stopped. Children walked toward the lengthy line while pulling other children behind them.
One 12-year-old girl claimed that she and her younger sister had gone a day without eating.
The girl said, “No food has arrived here, but my sister is ill; she has been throwing up.” I’m hoping they can assist.
Every town was able to see the distress. People went to the windows of passing vehicles to call out for assistance.
Hundreds of people have gathered on one of the main routes leading out of Sukkur.
Many of them traveled by foot from outlying villages, despite being promised that assistance is more readily available in cities. There is not much of a change, though.
About 15% of the population of the country, or 33 million people, were affected by the floods, according to PM Sharif on Friday.
He said that the damages brought on by this season’s floods were equivalent to those allegedly caused by the greatest floods ever recorded in 2010–2011. The nation has made a request for further foreign assistance.
In Sindh, it’s not that local authorities are not trying, but they admit that they are out of their depth.
The provincial government says this is a “climate change catastrophe” and that the people of Pakistan, especially in the poorer communities, have been the worst affected.
The solutions will not be quick – acres of land are waterlogged and the water is not receding fast enough for any rebuilding to take place here.
There’s not much to do for the people but to wait – wait for the rains to stop, wait for the water to go down, wait for more resources to be allocated to these kinds of communities.
In the meantime, life continues to be difficult.
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