Millions of people have been affected by floods in Pakistan since the start of the monsoon in mid-June 2022. In some provinces, up to 780% more rain fell this month than the average for the month of August last year. People in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces where the worst affected areas are the poor rural parts, are living hell as the rain continues to fall.
With our correspondent in Islamabad, Sonia Ghezali
Pakistan faces major floods. The torrential rains that have been falling since mid-June have turned some rivers into torrents. Several witnesses posted videos that have gone viral on social networks. We see for example a hotel collapsing in a few seconds or a commercial building carried away by the raging waters in the Swat valley, in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the north-west of the country. This province is the most affected with that of Balochistan and Sindh.
Hundreds of villages have been swallowed up by the heavy rains. More than 770,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged across the country. More than 930 people have been killed over the past month, 500,000 head of cattle have been killed, hundreds of hectares of crops have been ravaged. Flash floods caused landslides, the destruction of dams. More than 3,000 kilometers of roads were damaged.
Cholera
Nationally, 570 schools have already been destroyed. Thousands of survivors have found shelter in makeshift tents on the side of the roads and their survival depends on food donations. In addition, cases of cholera have been reported.
According to the authorities, the floods hitting the country are comparable to those of 2010. Two thousand people were killed and almost a fifth of the country was submerged by the rains. The monsoon starts mid-June and lasts until September in Pakistan. But this year, the amount of water that has fallen is abnormally high.
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