KARACHI, Pakistan
The death toll from devastating floods across Pakistan has jumped to 1,355, with 12 fresh casualties reported in the past 24 hours, official statistics showed on Wednesday.
Of the fresh fatalities, six
were reported from southern Sindh province, whereas three people lost their
lives in flood-related mishaps in southwestern Balochistan and two in northwestern
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, the country's National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) stated.
A total of 542 people have
died in Sindh since June 14, followed by 292 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 263 in
Balochistan, according to the NDMA.
It said 191 people have died
in the northeastern Punjab province.
Since June 14, a total of
12,722 people have been injured in the rain and flood-related incidents across
the country.
Monsoon season in Pakistan,
like in other countries in the region, usually results in heavy rains, but this
year has been the wettest since 1961.
Currently, one-third of the
country is underwater as the massive rains and melting glaciers have caused the
country’s main Indus River to overflow, inundating vast swaths of plains, and
farms.
Destructive rains and floods
have also washed away hundreds of thousands of houses, bridges, roads and
buildings across the South Asian nuclear country, which is already grappling
with political and economic turmoil.
Over 33 million of the
country's approximately 220 million population have been affected by the raging
floods, causing a staggering loss of $10 billion in damages to an already
weakened infrastructure.
Almost 45% of the country's
cropland has already been inundated by the floods, posing a serious threat to
food security and further adding to the already skyrocketing inflation.
Hundreds of thousands of
displaced people are also dealing with outbreaks of waterborne, skin and eye
diseases, with health experts warning of a higher number of deaths from
diarrhea, gastrointestinal, typhoid, malaria dengue, and other infections than
from rains and floods. - Africa
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