Keystone-SDA
More than 50 people died in 24 hours in rains in Pakistan, a government agency reported on Thursday, bringing around 180 the number of deaths since the start of the summer monsoon at the end of June.
(Keystone-ATS) “In the past 24 hours, 54 people have died and 227 have been injured across Pakistan and the province of the Pendjab has the most victims,” a spokesperson for the disaster management authority told AFP, adding that the balance sheet had been recorded until 8:00 am (05:00 in Switzerland).
The meteorology service alerted to a high risk of intense precipitation and possible raw raws suffered in the coming 48 hours.
Rawalpindi authorities, 15-20 km from the Islamabad capital, said holidays on Thursday to encourage residents to stay at home.
“Residents of risk zones must prepare emergency kits with food, water, drugs for three to five days,” they said.
After the flood of a river crossing the city, residents were also invited to evacuate their accommodation.
Dark memories of 2022
According to the spokesperson for the disaster management authority, around 180 people, including 70 children, died and 500 injured since the start of the summer monsoon at the end of June.
Pakistan is one of the countries in the world most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and its 255 million inhabitants undergo extreme climatic events more and more frequently.
The summer monsoon brings 70 to 80% of annual precipitation in South Asia between June and September and is vital for the subsistence of millions of farmers in a region of around two billion inhabitants.
But Pakistan is still struggling to recover from the devastating floods of 2022, which affected nearly a third of the country and more than 33 million people. Some 1,700 people had then been killed and a good part of the crops had been lost.
