ISLAMABAD: Floods and heavy monsoon rains have killed 178 people and affected 1.5 million across Pakistan in the last three weeks, disaster management officials said yesterday, providing updated figures.
“At least 178 people have died and 1,503,492 affected by recent monsoon rains and floods across the country,” a senior National Disaster Management Authority official said.
He said rains had wounded 855 people, affected 5,615 villages and destroyed 20,312 homes all over the country.
On Wednesday the figures stood at nearly one million people affected and 139 dead.
Nearly 350 relief camps have been set up to help people, mostly in the central province of Punjab, the southern province of Sindh and the southwestern province of Baluchistan, the official said.
Further heavy monsoon rains are expected next month, but National Disaster Management Authority is fully prepared, he added.
Pakistan, which has suffered from monsoon floods for the last three years, has been criticised for not doing more to mitigate the dangers posed by seasonal rains washing away homes and farmland.
Streets in all major cities, including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, suffer intermittent flooding due to downpours, which also damage roads and homes.
In 2010, the worst floods in the country’s history killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million. AFP
