Residents evacuate a flooded Daddu, Pakistan, on Sept. 7. Photo: Farhan Khan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Pakistan's government reported 18 more deaths from weeks of unprecedented rainfall and flooding on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to at least 1,343, Reuters reports.
The big picture: More than 33 million people — roughly 15% of Pakistan's total population of 220 million — have been affected by the flooding, which Pakistani officials have tied to human-caused climate change.
- Nearly 400 children were among those killed, while over 6,000 people have been injured.
- Over 6.4 million people in the county are in "dire" need of humanitarian aid, Palitha Mahipala, the World Health Organization's representative to Pakistan, said late last week.
- At least 1.1 million homes were destroyed in the flooding as well as vital infrastructure, including around 18,000 schools, over 2,174 miles of roads and 150 bridges, according to the United Nations.
What they're saying: "You wouldn't believe the scale of destruction there," Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told reporters on Wednesday after visiting the southern province of Sindh, per Reuters.
- "It is water everywhere as far as you could see. It is just like a sea," Sharif added.
The UN said some provinces saw record monsoon rains more than five times the 30-year average in the past few weeks.
- It has asked for $160 million in aid to help flood victims, with shelters, clean drinking water and food being the most urgently needed items.
- Its humanitarian agencies have also warned that an increase in waterborne and deadly diseases, like cholera, dengue or malaria, could emerge as the rains and flooding continue.
Go deeper: Pakistan minister wants rich nations to pay countries facing climate disasters