INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for &massive& international aid for flood-hit Pakistan while visiting the country on Friday, as
Islamabad put the cost of flood-related damage at $30 billion.Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in northern mountains have triggered
floods that have swept away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock and crops, and killed about 1,400 people.Huge areas of the
country are inundated and hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes
The government says the lives of nearly 33 million people have been disrupted
Both the government and Guterres have blamed the flooding on climate change.I call on the international community that Pakistan needs
massive financial support, as according to initial estimates the losses are around $30 billion&, Guterres told a joint news conference in
the capital Islamabad, after meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his two-day visit, Reuters reported.Sharif said &Pakistan needs
an infinite amount of funding& for its relief effort, adding the country &will remain in trouble as long as it doesn''t receive sufficient
international assistance&.The United Nations has launched an appeal for $160 million in aid to help Pakistan cope with the disaster.As well
as meeting Sharif and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Guterres will tour affected areas during his visit.Bhutto-Zardari told a news
conference after the meeting that Pakistan was waiting for the rescue and relief phase of the crisis to end before calling a donor
conference to work on reconstruction.When we have a 100km lake that has developed in the middle of Pakistan, tell me how big of a drain can
I build to manage this?& he said.There is no man-made structure that can evacuate this water.In July and August, Pakistan recorded 391 mm of
rainfall & nearly 190% more than the 30-year average
The southern province of Sindh has been overwhelmed, with 466% more rain than average.Guterres said the world needed to understand the
impact of climate change on low-income countries.It is essential for the international community to realize this, especially the countries
who have contributed more to climate change,& he said.The post UN chief calls for ‘massive& help as Pakistan puts flood losses at $30
billion first appeared on Ariana News.
