Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis who survived the severe flooding in their country are now dealing with the disease outbreak, snake, and dog bites. That’s what the Pakistani authorities say. The death toll from the natural disaster has now risen to almost 1,300.
At least 26 more people were killed on Saturday. Most of the deaths were in the hard-hit southern province of Sindh, where Pakistan’s largest river, the Indus, is at risk of another deluge after it has become swollen from water flowing from the mountains in the north of the country.
According to the latest update from the national disaster agency, the climate change-induced – or at least related – natural disasters that have hit Pakistan since June have killed at least 1,290. For the third day in a row, a major rescue operation is underway in Sindh on Sunday to release hundreds of thousands of people trapped in remote villages.
At least half a million survivors are in self-made shelters and cannot access clean drinking water, toilets, and other sanitary facilities. As a result, plenty of diseases are now transmitted through water.
Employees of hospitals and aid organizations already have to treat more than 150,000 patients with diarrhea, more than 100,000 with skin infections, and thousands with malaria. They are usually taken care of in field hospitals. In addition, more than 100 people have already been bitten by snakes and more than 500 by dogs in the affected areas.
At least until Tuesday, it would continue to rain over the mountains in northern Pakistan.