Islamabad: Flooding in Pakistan from the highest rainfall in more than three decades has killed 1350 people and has caused more than USD 10 billion worth of damage. It has displaced 50 million or one-seventh of the country’s population.
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman called it the “monster monsoon of the decade”.
The minister told the media that more than five years would be needed to rebuild the country. He said that the preliminary assessment showed that the losses were huge, saying “it is bigger than $10 billion”.
It said that about 1,051,570 houses were totally or partially damaged, leaving millions of people without food, clean drinking water and shelter.
Around 900k livestock are also dead, as millions of acres of fertile farmlands have been inundated by weeks of constant rains and around 90 percent crops have been damaged.
As per the latest reports, more than 40 reservoirs were breached and around 220 bridges have been collapsed.
Unable to cope with one of the worst catastrophes, Pakistan sought international help and the world has responded, with humanitarian assistance and solidarity messages coming from several countries.
Ms Kalinga