Pakistan floods: Thousands told to evacuate as rivers rise

Thousands of people who live in areas under danger of flooding in certain parts of Pakistan were told to evacuate.

Aid agencies say current floods have led to one of the country’s worst disasters as the largest monsoon rains within decades continue.

Almost 1, 000 people have died since June, while thousands are displaced and millions more affected.

The federal government has been forced to declare a state of emergency in some parts of the country.

Southern Pakistan has been hardest hit by rains – especially Sindh province, that has received nearly eight times its average August rainfall.

Most rivers have also burst open their banks in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Initially many people refused to depart, but when the water degree increased, they agreed, ” Bilal Faizi, spokesman for the Save 1122 emergency company, told the AFP news agency.

Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said soldiers plus rescue organisations had been helping people to reach safety in many districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, and also in the eastern Punjab and south-western Baluchistan provinces, the Associated Press news company reports.

The country director for aid agency Islamic Relief Worldwide, Asif Sherazi, told the BBC regarding the scale of the problem.

“During my whole trip, there was a consistent rain and the rainfall was continuously eliminating more and more infrastructure, that will included the houses of the people, livelihood assets as well as the open public infrastructure, bridges, roads. So it’s destruction just about everywhere, ” he said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said 33 million people have been hit by the surges – about 15% of the population.

He or she said the losses caused by floods this year were comparable to all those during the floods of 2010-11 , said to be the worst on record.

The country has become a huge hit for more international help.

Officials blame the devastation on man-made climate change.

“In Sindh alone, we had rain, 780% a lot more rain than typical, in Balochistan, 496% more rain than average. So we are of course looking at a very challenging situation, a daunting challenge, an environment catastrophe, ” Pakistan’s High Commissioner towards the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, told the particular BBC.

Since the summer season began, multiple monsoon cycles have lashed the country, destroying over fifty percent a million homes across the nation.

At least 184, 000 people have been displaced to reduction camps, the UN’s disaster relief company, OCHA (Office for that Co-ordination of Humanitarian education Affairs) said on Thursday.