London: According to new satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA), one-third of Pakistan is now under water. The European Space Agency (ESA) released stark images based on Copernicus satellite data. The images appear to confirm the Pakistani government’s assessment that monsoon rainfall, estimated to be 10 times more severe than usual, has submerged more than a third of the country, an area roughly the size of the United Kingdom, according to the report.
‘The Indus River has overflowed, effectively forming a long, tens of kilometres wide lake,’ the ESA said in a statement. The floods killed over 1,100 people, including 399 children, destroyed over a million homes, and washed away crops, livestock, and major infrastructure like roads and bridges.
? With much of Europe on #drought alert, this @CopernicusEU #Sentinel1 image on 30 August shows the extent of flooding affecting #Pakistan. Heavy monsoon rainfall – 10 times more than usual – has led to more than a third of the country being underwater ? https://t.co/KoudvViR4l pic.twitter.com/FVn1uczmJg
— ESA (@esa) September 1, 2022
Saleh Saeed, chief executive of the DEC, the umbrella organisation for 15 leading UK aid charities, appealed to the British public for assistance on Thursday. ‘Time is of the essence, as conditions are expected to worsen as the rains continue. We are pleading with everyone to contribute whatever they can,’ he stated.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, this year’s monsoon has already been the wettest in the country since records began in 1961, and the season is still a month away. Rainfall has been 500% above average in both Sindh and Balochistan provinces, engulfing entire villages and farmland, razing buildings, and destroying crops. While the region is expected to have mostly dry weather in the coming days, experts say the water will take days to recede.
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