In pictures: Historic Pakistan floods leave thousands homeless and almost €100 billion of damage
One-third of Pakistan has been engulfed by historic flooding.
Officials estimate that 33 million Pakistanis - one in seven - have been affected by the climate-driven catastrophe, which has claimed the lives of at least 1,136 people since the “monster” monsoon began in June.
Pakistan is dealing with “climate blow upon climate blow,” says Arif Jabbar Khan, country director of WaterAid, noting the country faced scorching heatwaves earlier this year.
"It's all one big ocean, there's no dry land to pump the water out," climate minister Sherry Rehman told AFP. “Literally, one-third of Pakistan is underwater right now, which has exceeded every boundary, every norm we've seen in the past.”
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The UN has today launched an appeal for $160 million (€159.6 million) to help Pakistan cope with the catastrophic floods which have wiped out homes, roads and crops, causing more than $100 billion worth of damage, according to the government’s early estimates.
“The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids - the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
With the South Asian country responsible for less than 1 per cent of global emissions - compared to the US’s 13 per cent - the devastating images and reports from Pakistan are a stark record of climate injustice, prompting calls for far greater action from historic emitters to provide immediate aid as well as climate finance.
Pakistan is used to monsoons and downpours, but this year is anything but usual. The rain is running at more than 780 per cent above average levels, explains Abid Qaiyum Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute and a member of
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