Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah said that the government is working on rehabilitating people and the province’s drainage, irrigation network. According to him, it will take “three to six months” to drain the water from flood-affected areas of the province as in “some areas, there is at least eight to 10 feet of water”.
While speaking to the media in Karachi, the chief minister talked about the damages and loss of assets. He said that “12.5 million people are affected by the disaster and around 350 billion rupees’ losses to the farmers are being reported in the province.”
He revealed that even in places where the floodwater is receding, “the situation is not such that people can return”, highlighting that Pakistan had received unprecedented rainfall this year.
It is pertinent to mention that Sindh is the worst-hit province so far after biblical floods wreaked havoc across the country. Sindh had the most deaths and injuries. Out of the 1,396 fatalities countrywide, 578 people have died in Sindh province alone.
Moreover, CM Shah said that the province is facing a shortage of tents and medicines and he had raised the issue with the United Nations (UN) chief Antonio Guterres during his recent visit to Sindh.
“The whole world has to come together to combat climate change,” he said, adding that Guterres had also called on the world to “pitch in” to help Pakistan navigate the crisis.
Earlier, the UN chief on his visit to Pakistan’s flood-affected areas said that he has “never seen climate carnage on this scale”.
At a press conference in Karachi on Saturday after witnessing the worst of the damage in southern Pakistan, he said, “I have seen many humanitarian disasters in the world, but I have never seen climate carnage on this scale.”
Guterres also strongly urged international creditors to introduce a new mechanism ‘Debt Swap’ for flood-devastated Pakistan.
