Geneva: The unprecedented climate catsatrophe in Pakistan killed more than 1,100 people, including 380 children and submerged more than one third of the nation, UN said as it appealed for relief on Tuesday.
Army helicopters are deployed to provide relief to inaccesible areas as the historic deluge, triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains, destroyed homes, businesses, infrastructure and crops, impacting 33 million people, with an economic loss of atleast $10 bn.
On Tuesday, the United Nations and Pakistan launched an emergency appeal for $160 million. These funds will provide 5.2 million of the worst-affected and most vulnerable people with aid including food, clean q, sanitation and emergency education, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said, calling the disaster a “colossal crisis”.
Meanwhile, the US close aid if Pakistan also announced relief of $30 million for urgent needs. The US Agency for International Development also said a team of its disaster specialists was working out of Islamabad to assess needs and coordinate with the Pakistani government and other local partners.
Sherry Rehman, the country’s climate change minister, said in an interview on Twitter that Pakistan is facing “a serious climate catastrophe, one of the hardest in the decade” following exceptionally heavy rain during what she described as a “monster monsoon.”