Pakistan declares national emergency after flood kills over 900

Islamabad, Aug 26: Pakistan government has declared "national emergency" following the devastation caused by heavy rains and floods in different parts of the country where over 900 people have died due to rain-related incidents.

The rains and floods had so far killed 937 people, including 343 children, and left at least 30 million without shelter, as per the latest data by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Sindh has registered the highest number of death as 306 people have died due to floods and rain-related incidents since June 14. Balochistan reported 234 deaths whereas Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab recorded 185 and 165 deaths, respectively.

Nine deaths were reported in the Gilgit-Baltistan region during the current monsoon rains. In the same period Islamabad reported one death, Dawn reported citing NDMA. The abnormal increase in rainfall has generated flash floods across the country, particularly in the southern part of Pakistan, which remains inundated at the moment with 23 districts of Sindh being declared "calamity-hit", ANI reported.

In the face of calamitous floods, the Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said a "war room" has been established by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at NDMA, which would spearhead relief operations across the country. However, the incessant "monstrous" rainfall had made it difficult to carry out relief operations, especially helicopter sorties, minister Rehman admitted. "Pakistan is going through its 8th cycle of monsoon; normally the country has only three to four cycles of [monsoon] rain," the minister said during a press conference in Islamabad.

"Pakistan is under an unprecedented monsoon spell and data suggests the possibility of re-emergence of another cycle in September." Comparing the current situation of Pakistan with the year 2010 floods, Senator Rehman, earlier this week, said that the current situation was worse than that. "The water is not only flowing from the north as in 2010, but it is equally or more devastating in its sweep and destructive power," she added.