ISLAMABAD: Ongoing floods continued to devastate the country on Sunday, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, leaving at least 119 people dead and more than 70 injured in the past 24 hours.
According to data released by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the floods claimed over 1,030 lives, with 74 more deaths reported in Sindh, 31 in KP, six in Gilgit-Baltistan, four in Balochistan and one each in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
It said that 32 children, 56 men and nine women were among those who died in the flood after the rains, while the number of victims has reached 5.77million.
Over the last 24 hours, nearly 0.95 million houses and 0.72 million livestock were flooded while 0.27 million houses were destroyed and 3,116 kilometres of highways and 149 bridges were washed away.
The reports said that 0.49 million people in Sindh, 0.45 million in Punjab, and 0.36 million in Balochistan have been affected by the floods.
However, on the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a plane carrying relief goods for the flood affected people of Pakistan from United Arab Emirates (UAE) has landed at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi.
Flash floods: Govt alerts concerned authorities
The relief goods include tents, food items, medicines and other essential goods.
The UAE Ambassador to Pakistan and Planning and Development Minister Ahsan Iqbal received the relief goods at the airport.
It is pertinent to mention that 15 more planes carrying relief goods will reach Pakistan in coming days on the instructions of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Meanwhile, two ships carrying relief goods from Turkiye are expected to arrive in Karachi today (Monday).
The Turkish Consul General in Karachi will hand over the relief goods to the Pakistani authorities.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Sunday that various private mobile network services had been restored in the provincial capital of Balochistan, while efforts were under way to restore services in other affected areas.
Earlier this week, as the unprecedented vicious attacks triggered by climate change had continued unabated, leaving many marooned, the environmental crisis had robbed Balochistan of digital connectivity after almost completely cutting it off from the rest of the country.
Already battered by flash floods, the province had lost communication with the rest of the country after overnight rains as the country struggles to cope with the humanitarian disaster, officials had said on Friday.
The destruction of infrastructure and breakdown in communication links adds to the difficulties faced by the authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the region.
The air, road and rail networks in Balochistan are already suspended, cutting it off from the rest of the country.
“Due to torrential rains and flash floods in Balochistan optical fibre cable, voice and data services have been impacted in Quetta and [the] rest of the main cities of the province,” said Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) in a tweet.
The situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also become worse as most of the areas have been cut off from the rest of the world after flash floods washed away roads.
The cellular system has also been disrupted and the concerned authorities are yet to restore the services of the respective cellular services in most of the areas especially in far flung areas of the province and Gilgit Baltistan.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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