From Our Correspondent:
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the flood-affected Osta Muhammad district of Balochistan on Saturday morning and met with the flood-affected people. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also accompanied the UN Secretary-General during his visit.Â
“This is not a matter of generosity, but of justice,” the top UN official said during his live telecast. Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Quddus Bizenjo, and Acting Governor Balochistan, Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali received the UN Secretary-General and Prime Minister upon their arrival.
The monsoon season in Pakistan, like in other countries in the region, usually results in heavy rains, but this year has been the wettest since 1961.
Raging floods submerged one-third of Pakistan
Massive rains and melting glaciers, followed by raging floods submerged one-third of the country.
Since mid-June, destructive rains – 10 times heavier than usual – and swirling floods have killed nearly 1,400 people and injured over 12,000 others, aside from washing away hundreds of thousands of houses, bridges, roads, and buildings across the country, which is already grappling with political and economic turmoil.
Over 33 million of the country’s approximately 220 million population have been affected by the raging floods, causing a staggering loss of around $30 billion in damages to an already weakened infrastructure, according to government estimates.
On Friday, the UN chief also promised to assist Pakistan in organizing a conference to fund after Islamabad completes an assessment of its needs and damages.
