By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday said the damage from this summer’s catastrophic flooding is now estimated at $40 billion, as much as 25 percent higher than projections a month ago.
The new estimate was shared in the first meeting of the Pakistan Climate Change Council, the office of the Prime Minister said in a statement. The government is preparing to present evidence of Pakistan’s vulnerability to natural calamities before the United Nations.
The flooding has killed 1,719 people and affected 33 million since mid-June. The waters have damaged or washed away 2 million homes.
The rains triggered unprecedented floods that at one point left a third of the country’s territory submerged, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to move to safer places.
A final report on the damages is yet to be finalized with the help of international aid agencies and lending institutions, including the World Bank.
A World Bank official told Bloomberg that they do not have a full overview of Pakistan’s damage and losses from the floods, beyond what Pakistani authorities are continuously sharing, “but we can confirm that they will be extraordinary, and that the recovery and reconstruction will require significant resources”.
The official said its part of a group initiating a post-disaster assessment along with the Pakistan government, the Asian Development Bank, the European Union and the UN Development Programme.
The United Nations has revised its appeal for aid for Pakistan five-fold, to $816 million, from the initial $160 million, saying recent assessments about the damages caused by floods pointed to the urgent need for long-term help, lasting into next year.
The government statement quoted PM Sharif as saying that despite having less than 1 percent share in global carbon emissions, Pakistan is among 10 countries most affected by climate change.
Sharif also hopes the U.N. climate conference in Egypt next month will offer Pakistan “an opportunity to present its stance on the vulnerability of the developing world with regard to the effects of climate change.”
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