Comments
IslamabadUnited Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday visited several areas of Pakistan ravaged by floods, as he rounded off a two-day trip aimed at raising awareness of the disaster.
Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed more than 1,391 people, sweeping away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock and crops.
Huge areas of the country are inundated, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. The government says the lives of nearly 33 million have been disrupted.
Pakistan estimates the damage at $30 billion, and both the government and Guterres have blamed the flooding on climate change.
Guterres’s visit
The U.N. secretary-general landed in Sindh province on Saturday, before flying over some of the worst-affected areas en route to Balochistan, another badly hit province.
"It is difficult not to feel deeply moved to hear such detailed descriptions of tragedy," Guterres said after landing in Sindh, according to a video released by the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
"Pakistan needs massive financial support. This is not a matter of generosity, it is a matter of justice."
A video released by Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb showed Guterres seated next to Sharif viewing flood-damaged areas from an aircraft window.
In July and August, Pakistan got 391 mm (15.4 inches) of rain, or nearly 190 per cent more than the 30-year average. The southern province of Sindh has seen 466 per cent more rain than average.
Guterres said on Saturday the world needed to understand the impact of climate change on low-income countries.
"Nature strikes back in Sindh, but it was not Sindh that has made the emissions of greenhouse gases that have accelerated climate change so dramatically," Guterres said. "There is a very unfair situation relative to the level of destruction."
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.