António Guterres is in Pakistan on a two-day visit
Islamabad (Mudassar Ch/Web Desk/AFP)
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the international community to support Pakistan as the country copes with massive flood destruction.
Guterres arrived in Pakistan on a two-day visit Thursday night to express solidarity with the Government and people of Pakistan braving a colossal climate-induced natural disaster caused by unprecedented rains and floods across the country, according to the foreign office.
He was received by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar. He will be visiting the flood-hit areas of the country.
The UN secretary general took to Twitter soon after he landed in Pakistan and appealed to the international community to offer ’massive support“ for Pakistan
Earlier, in a tweet en route to Pakistan, Guterres said he wanted to “be with the people in their time of need, galvanize international support and bring global focus on the disastrous repercussions of climate change”.
A third of the country is under water – an area the size of the United Kingdom – following record rains brought by what Guterres has described as “a monsoon on steroids”.
Pakistan officials say it will cost at least $10 billion to rebuild and repair damaged infrastructure – an impossible sum for the deeply indebted nation – but the priority, for now, is food and shelter for millions made homeless.
“Everything is drowned, everything washed away,” said Ayaz Ali, suffering from fever as he reluctantly took his place Thursday on a navy boat rescuing villagers from flooded rural communities in southern Sindh province.
Pakistan receives heavy – often destructive – rains during its annual monsoon season, which are crucial for agriculture and water supplies.
But a downpour as intense as this year’s not been seen for decades, and Pakistan officials blame climate change, which is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather around the world.
Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but is eighth on a list compiled by the NGO Germanwatch of countries deemed most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change.
A flood relief plan scaled by the Pakistan government and UN last month called for an immediate $160 million in international funding, and aid is already arriving.
On Thursday a US Air Force C-17 landed – the first American military plane in Pakistan for years – bringing desperately needed tents and tarpaulins for temporary shelter
Meteorological office says Pakistan received five times more rain than normal in 2022 – Padidan, a small town in Sindh, has been drenched by more than 1.8 metres (70 inches) since the monsoon began in June.
The effect of the heavy rains has been twofold – flash floods in rivers in the mountainous north that washed away roads, bridges and buildings in minutes, and a slow accumulation of water in the southern plains that has submerged hundreds of thousands of square kilometres (miles) of land.
In Jaffarabad district of Balochistan Thursday, villagers were fleeing their homes on makeshift rafts made from upturned wooden “charpoy” beds,
With people and livestock cramped together, the camps are ripe for outbreaks of disease, with many cases of mosquito-borne dengue reported, as well as scabies.
The floods have killed nearly 1,400 people, according to the latest National Disaster Management Authority report.
Nearly 7,000 km of roads have been damaged, some 246 bridges washed away and more than 1.7 million homes and businesses destroyed.
