Floods: Children among most affected as 400 die, says PM Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday shared that the children are among the most affected from the floods in Pakistan as 400 children have so far died in the climate-induced calamity, ARY NEWS reported.

Taking to Twitter, Shehbaz Sharif said that the children make up one third of overall death toll in the recent floods. “Now they are at even greater risk of water-borne diseases,” he said.

The prime minister sought help from UNICEF and other global lenders to deal with risks associated top children in the floods.

موسمی تبدیلیوں کے نتیجے میں سیلاب کی تباہی سے سب سے زیادہ بچے متاثر ہورہے ہیں۔ بدقسمتی سے 400 بچے جاں بحق ہوئے جو مجموعی ہلاکتوں کی ایک تہائی تعداد بنتی ہے۔ پانی سے پیدا ہونے والی بیماریوں کا نشانہ ان بچوں کی جان بچانے کےلئے ‘یونیسیف’ ، دیگر عالمی اداروں سے مدد کی اپیل کرتا ہوں۔

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) September 4, 2022

The toll from cataclysmic floods in Pakistan climbed to 1290 on Saturday with 26 more deaths, as the country grapples with a relief and rescue operation of nearly unprecedented scale.

A high-level body set up to coordinate the relief effort met in Islamabad on Saturday for the first time, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to take stock of the disaster.

Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains brought floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290 people, including 453 children. The inundation, blamed on climate change, is still spreading. read more

The proportion of children’s deaths has raised concern. On Friday, the United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) said there was a risk of “many more” child deaths from disease after floods.