2 hours ago
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Displaced people wait for aid following fleeing their homes in Karachi province.
Floods in Pakistan have killed more than 1,000 people, and the country’s government has called on the international community for further assistance.
A Home Office official, Salman Sufi, told the BBC that the US, UK, UAE and a number of other countries had already contributed to the country’s monsoon disaster, but more money was needed.
He said more than 1,000 people had died and millions had been displaced since June. The Pakistani government is doing everything in its power to help the victims.
In the northwest of the country, rivers in Khyber-Pashtun province burst their banks, sparking floods and sending thousands of people fleeing their homes.
“The house we’ve worked so hard to build is sinking right in front of our eyes,” Junaid Khan, 23, told AFP in an interview. “We sat on the side of the road and watched the house of our dreams sink.”
The Sindh province in the southeast of the country has also been severely affected, with thousands displaced.
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Disaster victims line up outside a bank to receive financial aid in southern Sindh province.
Sophie told the BBC that the country desperately needed more international aid.
“Pakistan has been struggling with economic problems, but just as we were regarding to overcome them, the monsoon disaster came,” he said.
He also said that funds for many development projects have been transferred to the affected population.
33 million people affected
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said 33 million people, or regarding 15 percent of the country’s population, were affected by the floods.
He said the damage from the floods was comparable to the floods of 2010-11 and was the worst on record.
Officials in the country blamed climate change for the disaster. But poor local government planning has also been cited as a factor exacerbating the disaster, as buildings are often built in areas prone to seasonal flooding.
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In Sukkur, the trapped people were evacuated to the ship.
After inspecting the disaster area, Sharif said the magnitude of the disaster was greater than expected. Rainfall in Sindh province, which Sharif inspected, was almost eight times the August average.
Near the city of Larkana, thousands of mud houses were flooded. For miles, only treetops were visible. Where the water level is slightly lower, the thatched roof emerges from the water.
In one village, people were desperate for food. In another village, many children suffered from waterborne diseases.
image source,EPA
People walk through flooded streets following days of rain in Karachi.
When a truck pulls to the side of the road, many people immediately run towards it. The children carried other children toward the long line.
A 12-year-old girl said she and her sister had not eaten for a day.
“There’s no food here, but my sister is sick and she’s been throwing up,” the girl said. “I hope they can help.”
The desperation was so evident in every neighborhood that people ran to their car windows for help.
In Sindh, local authorities admit to being overwhelmed.
The provincial government said it was a “climate change catastrophe” and that the people of Pakistan, especially the poor, were worst affected.
