Pakistan flooding latest news: Disaster ‘to cost $10bn’ as one third of country under water

Pakistan has appealed for international help and some countries have already sent in supplies and rescue teams.

The Chinese government said on Monday it will provide additional humanitarian aid, including $300,000 in cash and 25,000 tents. China had already sent 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets and 50,000 waterproof tarps to Pakistan.

China’s president Xi Jinping also called his Pakistani counterpart Arif Alvi to express his condolences on the severe flooding, according to Chinese state media.

The Canadian government on Monday announced $5 million in funding for humanitarian assistance to Pakistan to deal with the flooding.

Pakistan’s planning minister Ahsan Iqbal also said the world owed Pakistan, which was a victim of climate change caused by the “irresponsible development of the developed world.”

“Those areas which used to receive rainfall aren’t receiving rainfall and those areas which used to receive very mild rains are receiving very heavy rainfall,” he added.

As Pakistan stares at a food shortage in the midst of unprecedented floods, the country is looking at options for importing vegetables and may consider buying from arch-rival India.

The two neighbouring countries have not shared any meaningful trade for a long time.

“We can consider importing vegetables from India,” finance minister Miftah Ismail told local Geo News TV, adding other possible sources of food imports included Turkey and Iran.

Food prices have shot up further due to flooded crops and impassable roads. Pakistan was already suffering from inflation which has sparked several protests in recent months.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the devastation caused by the floods.

A third of Pakistan is underwater, the country’s climate minister has said as history-making floods saw nearly a half million people crowd into camps after losing their homes.

“It’s all one big ocean, there’s no dry land to pump the water out,” Sherry Rehman told AFP, calling the devastation wreaked by the flash floods a “crisis of unimaginable proportions”.

She also told the Associated Press that Pakistan was on the “front line” of the world’s climate crisis as unprecedented monsoon rains have killed more than 1,130 people since mid-June.

Here’s the latest update on the flood situation from Emily Atkinson:

Pakistan’s planning minister Ahsan Iqbal has said the deadly flash floods could cost the country over $10bn and it may take five years to rebuild, as around one-third of Pakistan is feared to be underwater.

The climate change minister has called the situation a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”.

“I think it is going to be huge. So far, (a) very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10bn,” Mr Iqbal told Reuters.

“So far we have lost 1,000 human lives. There is damage to almost nearly one million houses,” Mr Iqbal said.

“People have actually lost their complete livelihood.”

Mr Iqbal rated the recent floods worse than those that hit Pakistan in 2010, for which the UN had issued its largest ever disaster appeal.

The minister said it might take five years to rebuild and rehabilitate the nation, while in the near term it will be confronted with acute food shortages.