Torrential torrents kill 550 in Pakistan with heaviest rains in decades
Floods caused by unusually heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 549 people in Pakistan over the past month, a government body said, noting that remote communities in the impoverished southwestern Baluchistan province are among the worst affected.
Government agencies and the army set up relief camps in the flood-hit areas and worked to help resettle families and provide food and medicine.
Besides the deaths, the floods destroyed more than 46,200 homes, the National Disaster Management Authority said Friday.
"We are doing our best to provide wide-ranging relief and rehabilitation for the flood victims," Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said during his visit to the disaster-stricken areas.
But the provincial government of Baluchistan said it needed more funding and appealed to international organizations for help.
"Our losses are heavy," said regional Prime Minister Abdul Quddus Bazanjo.
All areas hit by the floods are experiencing food shortages, and some of them are isolated from the rest of the region due to the flooding of roads with a length of more than 700 km.
Bizengo added that his province needs "huge assistance" from the government and international aid agencies.
The National Disaster Management Authority said that the past month witnessed the heaviest rain in three decades, with the average rainfall increasing by 133 percent over the average in the past 30 years.
The department reported that Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, received 305 percent more rain than the annual average.
(Prepared by Rehab Alaa and Salma Negm for the Arabic Bulletin - Edited by Marwa Salam)
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