The United Nations appealed on Tuesday for $160 million to help Pakistan as army helicopters rescued stranded families and dropped food packages into inaccessible areas following "epochal" rains and flooding, APA reports citing Reuters.
The historic deluge, mainly triggered by abnormal monsoon rains, has killed more than 1,100 people, affected 33 million, and destroyed homes, businesses, infrastructure and crops.
"Pakistan is awash in suffering," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message to launch the appeal in Islamabad and Geneva.
"The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids - the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding."
He said the scale of the country's needs - with millions forced from their homes and schools, health facilities and livelihoods destroyed by the climate catastrophe - required the world's collective and prioritised attention.
Nearly 300 stranded people, including some tourists, were airlifted in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, a state-run disaster management agency said in a statement, adding that over 50,000 people had been moved to two government shelters in the northwest.
People complained at the shelters.
"Life is very painful here," 63 year-old villager Sadiq Hussain told Reuters.
He said he and his family had to bear it all just because, "we lost everything."
Hussain said his entire village on the bank of Kabul river had escaped to safety. He was housed in the camps together with his parents and five children.
"Diarrhoea and fever is common here," he said of the camp, adding no sufficient medical assistance was available. He said he had already shifted his diabetic mother to a relative after she spent a harsh night at the camp.
"Life is bitter here," said Sidra Bibi who fled the same village as Hussain's.
Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited the northern valley of Swat and reviewed rescue and relief operations.
"We had no hope, but then army's help came," said one of the tourists in a video statement issued by the military. "Thank God we're rescued."
Bajwa told reporters that rescue and relief operations could be over, but that "the rehabilitation will take a long, long time."
The United States will provide $30 million in support for Pakistan's flood response, its embassy in Islamabad said.
The money will come through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), it said, adding that the U.S. will prioritize urgently needed food support, safe water, sanitation and hygiene improvements, financial help, and shelter assistance.
"The United States is deeply saddened by the devastating loss of life, livelihoods, and homes throughout Pakistan," the statement added.
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