UN chief says country \u201cawash in suffering\u201d; FM Bilawal says the country has become \u201cground zero\u201d of global warming.
\nGENEVA
\nThe United Nations made a flash appeal on Tuesday for $160 million to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic floods that have killed more than 1,100 people, destroyed infrastructure and crops, and affected 33 million people.
\nEarly estimates put the damage from the floods at more than $10 billion, the government has said, adding that the world had an obligation to help the country cope with the effects of man-made climate change.
\n\u201cPakistan is awash in suffering,\u201d UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a video message for the launch of the appeal in Islamabad and Geneva. \u201cThe Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids, the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding.\u201d
\nForeign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also spoke on the occasion, urging nations to extend their support to Pakistan in these challenging times.
\nThe FM said the devastation witnessed in Pakistan following the recent spell of unprecedented rains and floods showed that the country had become \u201cground zero\u201d of global warming, the \u201cbiggest existential threat\u201d of this century.
\n\u201cThe current cycle of super flooding we see today is part of extreme weather patterns. Unprecedented levels of cloud bursts and torrential rains have triggered widespread devastation, urban flooding, river floods and landslides, resulting in the loss of human life, livelihoods and livestock,\u201d Bilawal said.
\nHe described this year\u2019s \u201csuper floods\u201d as a \u201cclimate calamity\u201d, adding that \u201cwhat we are facing today has been no above average monsoon.
\n\u201cIt is an entirely new level of climate-led catastrophe.\u201d
\nThe FM said rainfall in Pakistan since mid-June had been equivalent to three times the 30-year national average and the southern, central and northern regions of the country were worst affected.
\nHe said it was feared the scale of destruction caused by this year\u2019s floods would exceed the impact of 2010\u2019s \u201cmega or super floods\u201d.
\nSharing details about the extent of damage, he said 72 districts were declared calamity-hit, over 33 million people were affected, which is the size of a small country, over 1,000 people had lost their lives and several others were grappling with the loss of livelihoods and displacement.
\n\u201cHundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and forced to spend days and nights \u2026 under a merciless sky and the lack of access to food, water and shelter are making life harder with each passing day,\u201d he lamented.
\nMoreover, he said the damage to infrastructure and railway networks was impeding efforts to deliver aid and to shift people from flood-hit areas to safer locations.
\nThe FM said the situation was likely to deteriorate further as more rains continued to pummel already flooded areas.
\n\u201cFor us, this is no less than a national emergency. This is a life-defining experience.\u201d
\nThe floods, the FM said, had taken a toll on the economy and stretched the country\u2019s resources.
\nHe said the government was cognisant of its responsibility and had earmarked $173 million to help flood-hit people through direct cash transfers. This, Bilawal elaborated, would be disbursed through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to 1.5 million families who will each receive Rs25,000 ($115) in immediate cash relief.
\nSeparately, Rs5 billion ($23 million) had been allocated to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for relief activities, he added.
\n\u201cThe government is also providing Rs1 million ($4,615) in ex-gratia compensation to the next of kin of each deceased; Rs250,000 ($1,154) for injuries and partially damaged houses; and Rs500,000 ($2,308) for destroyed houses.\u201d
\nThe FM went on that in addition to the financial support, food packs, shelter items including tents, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) supplies were also being provided by NDMA and PDMAs.
\n\u201cThe government\u2019s efforts are being supported by the Pakistani nation with people, civil society and humanitarian organizations stepping forward in a big way to complement the relief work with our characteristic generosity and philanthropic spirit,\u201d he said, adding that the Prime Minister\u2019s Flood Relief Fund 2022 had also been established to facilitate people all over the country and overseas to contribute to the flood relief efforts.
\nPakistan needs \u2018$10 billion\u2019 for repair and rehabilitation.
\nEarlier, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan needs more than $10 billion to repair and rebuild infrastructure damaged by monsoon rains.
\n\u201cMassive damage has been caused to infrastructure \u2014 especially in the areas of telecommunications, roads, agriculture and livelihoods,\u201d he told.
\nIqbal\u2019s statements are a reiteration of an assessment he shared with Reuters (the news agency), a day earlier, where he said he believed that the cost of the damage caused by floods would be \u201chuge.
\n\u201cSo far, a very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10 billion,\u201d Iqbal said, adding that there was damage to almost nearly one million houses\u201c.
\n\u201cPeople have actually lost their complete livelihoods,\u201d he continued, rating the recent floods worst than those that hit Pakistan in 2010.
\nThe minister said it might take five years to rebuild and rehabilitate the nation, while in the near term it will be confronted with acute food shortages.
\nSeparately, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has also estimated that the economic impact of floods would be at least $10bn, which roughly translates to three per cent of the country\u2019s gross domestic product.
\nThe estimates have come as Pakistan reels from the impact of torrential rains and unprecedented floods, which have claimed over 1,000 lives, affected more than 33 million, almost 15pc of the country\u2019s 220m population, people and submerged most of the country.
\nMoreover, the country faces an imminent food security crisis, with crops damaged on a large scale and livestock swept away.
\nMeanwhile, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is visiting flood-affected areas in Swat today to get a briefing about evacuation and relief operations in Kumrat, Kalam and surrounding areas, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
\nThe statement from the military\u2019s public affairs wing said the army had been sending relief goods to affected areas while more than 50 medical camps had been established in flood-hit districts.
\nThe ISPR said Canada, Azerbaijan and UK had also pledged $5 million, $1.2m and \u00a31.5m in aid, respectively.
\nSeparately, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PMDA) said at least eight people lost their lives in floods across the province in the last 24 hours.
\nIn a statement, the PDMA said an additional Rs220m had been released for relief and rehab measures in four districts of the province.
\nIn Quetta, the repair work of 132-KV Sibi-Quetta transmission line had been started on an emergency basis, GM Technical PTCL Shaukat Khawaja Khel said in a statement.
\nHe said the electricity will be restored in all affected areas in three to four days. \u201cThe landline and internet services have partially been restored in Quetta.\u201d
\nThe official said the gas supply in Bibi Nani area was affected for a week.
\nAccording to a Dawn new reports, of all the provinces, Sindh, in particular, has suffered damages of over $1.6bn (Rs355bn) as all major crops have been destroyed.
\nWhile a survey and mapping at the national level for assessing the flood damage is yet to be carried out, Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told that heavy rains had destroyed cotton, rice, and date crops, causing a loss of Rs109.347bn in the province.
\n\u201cBesides, chilli and other crops have also been destroyed by rain,\u201d he added.
\nWasan said almost the entire cotton crop standing on over 1.4 million acres, rice standing on 602,120 acres and dates on 101,379 acres had been destroyed.
\n\u201cAlmost 50pc of the sugarcane crop on 729,582 acres has also been damaged,\u201d he said, adding that almost 50pc of sesame, tomato, chilli, Kharif vegetables and onion crops had also been destroyed.
\nTo a question, he said that there would be a great deal of difficulty in sowing wheat, which was due in the next two months. \u201cThe flood water is not expected to be completely drained out of the farmers\u2019 fields in two months,\u201d he explained.
\nWasan further said in order to compensate farmers struggling in the face of the devastation caused for floods and rains, revenue charges (abiana) would be waived for Kharif season 2022, the possibility of giving date growers case compensation at 50pc of their crop value and a compensation package for the rest of the crops might be announced on a 50pc input cost basis.
\nTo a question, he said that agricultural loans provided to the growers during Kharif 2022 in rain-affected areas might be rescheduled and the interest on the loans might be waived.
\nTo mitigate food shortfalls, Miftah Ismail has said the country could consider importing vegetables from India.
\nMeanwhile, the federal government has decided to form a National Flood Response and Coordination Centre to provide a proper institutional response to the calamity, which will comprise federal ministers, representatives of the armed forces, chief ministers and experts.
\nPakistan has appealed for international help and some countries have already sent in supplies and rescue teams.
\nFor its part, the United Nations will launch a $161 million \u2018flash appeal\u2019 today to provide critical food and cash assistance to Pakistan in the wake of unprecedented floods.
\nForeign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told Reuters on Sunday he hoped financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund would provide financial aid, taking the economic cost of the floods into account.
\nHowever, Iqbal told Reuters that any formal requests for financial help would need to wait until the scale of the damage was known, something Pakistan was now evaluating with partners, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
\nIqbal also said the world owed Pakistan, which was a victim of climate change caused by the \u201cirresponsible development of the developed world.\u201d The world had an obligation to help Pakistan cope with the effects of man-made climate change, he said.
\n\u201cOur carbon footprint is lowest in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cThe international community has a responsibility to help us, upgrade our infrastructure, to make our infrastructure more climate resilient, so that we don\u2019t have such losses every three, four, five years,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThose areas which used to receive rainfall aren\u2019t receiving rainfall and those areas which used to receive very mild rains are receiving very heavy rainfall,\u201d he added.
\nIqbal said 45pc of cotton crops had been washed away with early wheat sowing in southern Pakistan also affected, as large swaths of land remained inundated with flood water, and severe damage to rice fields as well as vegetable and fruit crops.
\nPakistan\u2019s finance ministry in its latest economic outlook update has warned of the impact on critical seasonal crops, particularly cotton, which is key for Pakistan\u2019s textile sector that makes up more than 60pc of the country\u2019s exports.
\nEnds\/Online
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UN chief says country \u201cawash in suffering\u201d; FM Bilawal says the country has become \u201cground zero\u201d of global warming. GENEVA The United Nations made a flash appeal on Tuesday for $160 million to help Pakistan cope with catastrophic floods that have killed more than 1,100 people, destroyed infrastructure and crops, and affected 33 million people. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n