Pak pegs flood losses at $30 billion, UN chief calls for 'massive' help

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “massive” international support for flood-ravaged Pakistan while visiting the country on Friday, while Islamabad put the cost of flood-related damage at $30 billion.
 

Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in northern mountains have triggered floods that have swept away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock and crops, and killed more about 1,400 people.
 

Huge areas of the country are inundated and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.  The government says the lives of nearly 33 million people have been disrupted. Both the government and Guterres have blamed the flooding on climate change.
 

“I call on the international community that Pakistan needs massive financial support, as according to initial estimates the losses are around $30 billion”, Guterres told a joint news conference in the capital Islamabad, after meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his two-day visit.
 

Sharif said ‘Pakistan needs an infinite amount of funding’ for its relief effort, adding the country ‘will remain in trouble as long as it doesn’t receive sufficient international assistance’.
 

In July and August, Pakistan recorded 391 mm (15.4 inches) of rainfall — nearly 190 per cent more than the 30-year average.  The southern province of Sindh has been overwhelmed, with 466 per cent more rain than average.
 

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $160 million in aid to help Pakistan cope with the disaster. 
 

In July and August, Pakistan recorded 391 mm (15.4 inches) of rainfall — nearly 190 per cent more than the 30-year average.