“All of us on the ground see malnourished children, battling diarrhea and malaria, dengue fever, and many with painful skin conditions. A lot of the mothers are anemic and malnourished themselves and have very low-weight babies.”
By Staff Reporter
KARACHI: The catastrophic floods in Pakistan have killed at least 528 children and impacted about 16 million others, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) said on Friday, fearing many more losing their lives without a massive increase in support.
“Each and every one of these deaths is a tragedy that could have been averted. The sad reality is that without a massive increase in support, many more children will lose their lives,” Abdullah Fadil, Unicef representative in Pakistan, said.
Record monsoon rains and glacier melt in the country’s northern mountains have triggered flash floods and rain-induced landslides that have killed over 1,500 people, sweeping away houses, roads, railway tracks, bridges, livestock, and crops.
Huge areas are inundated, and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from their homes. The government says the lives of nearly 33 million people have been disrupted. Pakistan estimates the damage at $30 billion because of the climate breakdown.
Fadil said the situation for families in flood-affected areas, is beyond bleak and millions of families have been forced from their homes, now living with little more than rags to protect themselves from the scorching sun as temperatures in some areas pass 40 degrees celsius.
“Many families have been forced to seek shelter on slivers of higher ground, often alongside roads putting children at risk, as lower land is covered by huge expanses of stagnant water, extending as far as the eye can see. The additional threats of snakes, scorpions, and mosquitoes are ever-present,” Fadil, who recently concluded a two-day visit to the flood-affected areas of Sindh, said.
“All of us on the ground see malnourished children, battling diarrhea and malaria, dengue fever, and many with painful skin conditions. A lot of the mothers are anemic and malnourished themselves and have very low-weight babies. Mothers are exhausted or ill and are unable to breastfeed.”
An estimated 16 million children have been impacted by these super floods and “at least 3.4 million girls and boys remain in need of immediate, lifesaving support”.
Girls and boys in Pakistan are paying the price for a climate disaster not of their making.
“Young children are living out in the open with their families, with no drinking water, no food, and no livelihood, exposed to a wide range of new flood-related risks and hazards – including damaged buildings, drowning in flood waters and snakes.”
The vital infrastructure that children so rely on has been destroyed and damaged, including thousands of schools, water systems, and health facilities.
“Relief and rescue operations are still extremely hard to carry out – many communities are still cut off by floodwater…it is clear that the needs are huge, and the response must rise to this challenge.”
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