Aid groups warn that the country’s suffering is far from over — and that as the disaster continues to unfold children will be among the most vulnerable. The floods — the result of a combination of record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains — have been described as the worst the country has ever seen. At one point more than a third of the country was under water, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency, and government and humanitarian organizations say 33 million people have been affected. Among them, more than three million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance due to the risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition, according to UNICEF. The floods have also damaged or destroyed 17,566 schools across the country, UNICEF says, further jeopardizing children’s education after two years of closures due to Covid. Aid groups say that even if the floods recede, the country faces a long road to recovery. “Survivors have to start from scratch,” said Aurelie Godet, a spokeswoman for Doctors of the World, a humanitarian aid organization that has been working in Pakistan since 1966. “This is not going to end in two months, they need long-term help.” The two worst-hit provinces are Balochistan and Sindh in southern Pakistan, where infrastructure and water systems have been damaged. Appealing for help from the international community, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif estimated last week that the disaster had caused more than $10 billion in damage to infrastructure, homes and farms. A National Flood Response and Coordination Center has been established and the World Health Organization has released $10 million to treat the injured, deliver supplies to health facilities and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. China and the UK have also pledged millions in aid to the country. More than 1 million homes have been damaged or destroyed, while at least 5,000 kilometers of roads have been damaged, according to the disaster management authority. On Saturday, a high-level body set up to coordinate the aid effort met for the first time in Islamabad, Reuters reported. A day earlier, the country’s largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, urged the government to lift a years-long ban on a number of international non-governmental organizations so they could help with relief efforts, Reuters reported. CNN’s Jan Camenzind Broomby and Reuters contributed to this report.
