Aid pours in to flood-ravaged Pakistan
Death toll tops 1,200 as rescue operations resume
ISLAMABAD — Planes carrying fresh supplies are surging across a humanitarian air bridge to flood-ravaged Pakistan as the death toll surged past 1,200, officials said Friday, with families and children at special risk of disease and homelessness.
The ninth flight from the United Arab Emirates and the first from Uzbekistan were the latest to land in Islamabad overnight as a military-backed rescue operation elsewhere in the country reached more of the 3 million people affected by the disaster.
Two more planes from UAE and Qatar with aid were expected to arrive in Pakistan later Friday, and a Turkish train carrying relief goods for flood victims was on its way to the impoverished nation, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Multiple officials and experts have blamed the unusual monsoon and flooding on climate change, including U.N. Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who earlier this week called on the world to stop “sleepwalking” through the deadly crisis.
Guterres will visit Pakistan on
Sept. 9 to tour flood-hit areas and meet with officials.
According to initial government estimates, the devastation has caused $10 billion in damage.
Earlier this week, the United Nations and Pakistan jointly issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to help the 3.3 million people affected by the floods, which have damaged over 1 million homes.
The U.N. refugee agency said
Friday that while the response to the appeal was “very encouraging,” more help is needed.
UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said they were quickly releasing tents, as well as blankets, plastic sheets, buckets and other household items for flood victims. “The scale of the devastation that people face is unimaginable,” he said.
The United States announced $30 million worth of aid for the flood victims earlier this week.
Pakistan’s military said rescuers, backed by troops, resumed operations early Friday. They are using boats and helicopters to evacuate people from remote regions and to deliver aid.
Since mid-june, floods have also killed more than 700,000 goats, cows and buffaloes and damaged crops. Pakistan’s government has been forced to import vegetables to avoid shortages.