As deadly floods ravaged the nation, tens of thousands of people fled their homes in northern Pakistan on Saturday after a rapidly rising river destroyed a significant bridge. The Kabul River grew as a result of strong flash floods in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north, taking away a sizable bridge over it overnight and cutting off certain areas from vehicle access.
According to disaster officials, some 180,000 residents of the district of Charsadda fled their homes due to fears of flooding near the river banks; some spent the night on highways with their livestock. The country’s climate change minister described the recent monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan as a ‘climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions,’ affecting more than 30 million people.
The military has joined with the government to fight the floods, and on Saturday, Pakistan’s army head paid a visit to the southern region of Balochistan, which has been severely affected by the rains. ‘The people of Pakistan are our priority and we won’t spare any effort to assist them in this difficult time,’ Army leader General Qamar Javed Bajwa declared.
Pakistani officials have made a request for assistance to the world community and intend to start an international appeal fund. Turkey had sent a team to help in rescue attempts, according to the foreign affairs ministry.
After visiting flooded areas, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted, ‘The magnitude of the calamity is bigger than estimated.’ After flooding in the central and eastern districts of neighbouring Afghanistan, the Taliban administration also made a plea for help.
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