ISLAMABAD: The continuing flooding in Sindh and Balochistan provinces where large swath of lands have been inundated by the rainwaters in the past 24 hours has caused more death and destruction as the authorities reported 37 new deaths, 92 injuries, 104,072 houses destroyed, and 8,252 houses damaged, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.
Following the deaths of 37 more people, the national death toll from the devastating floods triggered by monsoon rains started in June this year in Pakistan has reached 1,545, injuries tally 12,850, livestock losses 935,795, and 1,921,622 destroyed houses.
Moreover, in the past 24 hours, 50 kilometres of road networks were also damaged in Balochistan province which took the nationwide losses to 12,735 kilometres of roads, of which, 8,398 kilometres roads in Sindh, 1,850 in Balochiostan, 1,575 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, 896 in Punjab, and 16 kilometres in Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The floods have also destroyed 375 bridges across the country, of which, 165 in Sindh, 107 in KPK, 65 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 22 in Balochistan, and 16 in Punjab.
Out of 1,545 nationwide flood-related deaths, Sindh has reported 678, KPK 306, Balochistan 299, Punjab 191, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 48, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) 22, and Federal Capital Islamabad one death.
The NDMA report said that the rainwaters across the country have resulted in injuries to 12,850 people since June 14, of which 8,412 people are injured in Sindh, 3,858 in Punjab, 369 in KPK, 181 in Balochistan, 24 in KPK, and six in GB.
The rainwaters also swept away 935,795 livestock nationwide, of which, 208,579 in Sindh, 205,106 in Punjab, over 500,00 in Balochistan, 21,328 in KPK, and 792 in AJK.
Out of a total 1,921,622 damaged houses across the country 765,162 are fully damaged and 1,135,829 are partially. Sindh with 683,890 fully destroyed and 997,641 partially damaged houses in the most-affected province, followed by KPK with 91,463, of which, 37,525 fully and 53,938 partially; Balochistan with 65,997 houses damaged, of which, 19,083 fully and 46,914 partially; Punjab with 60,241, of which, 23,764 fully and 36,477 partially.
The floods have affected 81 districts out of 160 districts of the country. The government has started joint survey/damage assessment drive in 30 districts of Balochistan, three districts of Punjab, and four districts of GB, while the survey in rest of the country will commence once the rainwaters start receding.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022