Death toll from floods in Pakistan rises to 1,545

ISLAMABAD (AA) – The death toll from floods in Pakistan has risen to 1,545 as 37 more people, including 18 children, died in flood-related incidents in the last three days, official statistics showed on Monday.

A total of 678 people have died in Sindh since June 14, 306 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 299 in Balochistan, according to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

It said 191 people have lost their lives in the northeastern Punjab province, 48 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and 22 in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. There were 552 children and 315 women among the 1,545 fatalities, the NDMA data showed.

A total of 12,860 people have been injured in the rain and flood-related incidents across the country.

Property damage is also increasing, with over 1.95 million houses damaged, and 959,819 livestock killed, according to the authority.

Monsoon season in Pakistan, like in other countries in the region, usually results in heavy rains, but this year has been the wettest since 1961.

Currently, one-third of the country is under water as the massive rains and melting glaciers have caused the country’s main Indus River to overflow.

Floods have also washed away 12,716 kilometers (7,901 miles) of roads and 374 bridges across the South Asian country.

Over 33 million of the country’s approximately 220 million population have been affected by the floods, causing a staggering loss of over $30 billion.

Almost 45% of the country’s cropland has already been inundated by the floods, posing a serious threat to food security and further adding to the already skyrocketing inflation.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are also dealing with outbreaks of waterborne, skin and eye diseases.

So far, Pakistan has received 113 flights of humanitarian aid from Turkey, the UAE, China, the US, the UK, Uzbekistan, France, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, Nepal, Turkmenistan, UNICEF, UNHCR, and the World Food Program.