At least 17 people, including nine children, have died in the last 48 hours in Sindh province, the hardest hit by the devastating floods that hit Pakistan, the country’s authorities revealed on Thursday.
The update came on the day the UN renewed its appeal to raise $39 million (about 39.6 million euros) in donations to help the most vulnerable victims of the floods, after reaching only a third of the funding requested. according to a Unicef statement.
Doctors and health workers are struggling to contain the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever among the hundreds of thousands of survivors now living in tents in the southern province of Sindh.
Record monsoon rains and floods, which many experts blame on climate change, have affected 33 million people and caused at least 1,576 deaths and 12,862 injuries across the country since mid-June.
Of that number, 707 people, including 297 children and 132 women, have died in Sindh, where many areas remain underwater.
According to UNICEF, more than 3.4 million children have been ‘uprooted’ from their homes and floods have killed more than 550 children across Pakistan.”
“Without a significant increase in support, we fear many more children will lose their lives. Families are without food, clean water and medicine,” the UN agency said.
Unicef has set up 71 health camps and temporary schools for children in flood-affected areas, but its $39 million appeal has only been covered by around a third.
The amount is part of the flash appeal of 160 million dollars (about 162.5 million euros) to support the response to the floods in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif met some world leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, seeking more help from the international community to deal with record flooding.
The annual monsoon is responsible for 70-80% of South Asia’s annual rainfall, but it is also synonymous with death and massive destruction.
Precipitation is difficult to predict and varies widely, but scientists believe climate change is making monsoons stronger and more erratic.
Source: TSF
