Pakistan flood devastation, millions of children remain at risk : UNICEF

ISLAMABAD: Millions of children in Pakistan remain at risk of death and disease from flooding that devastated the south Asian nation months earlier warned United Nations officials on Monday.

Pakistan's monsoon season of mid-June to October ravaged the country, resulting in at least 1,739 people killed, including 647 children, according to government statistics.

Though flooding ceased months ago, upwards of 4 million children remain living near contaminated and stagnant flood waters and 10 million still require immediate lifesaving support ahead of the winter, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund said Monday.

Children living in Pakistan's flood-affected areas have been pushed to the brink, Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF's representative in Pakistan, said in a statement. The rains have ended, but the crisis for children has not.

UPI reported all four corners of the country were affected by the mass flooding, with the Center for Disaster Philanthropy stating some 15 per cent of Pakistan's 230 million people have been impacted.

The United Nations has directly blamed the floods on climate change, with its secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, stating following a trip of Pakistan in September that the country needs massive financial support from the international community as a matter of justice as it is not responsible for rising greenhouse gases.

In the last few days, calls for assistance for Pakistan have been amplifying, with the UN development agency, UNDP, saying last week that on top of the 33 million people affected by the floods, an additional 9 million people are at risk of being pushed into poverty.

The UN agency said that between July and December it has identified nearly double the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in flood-affected areas compared to a year earlier.

Acute respiratory infections among children in flood-stricken areas has also skyrocketed, it said.

Severe acute malnutrition, respiratory and water-borne diseases coupled with the cold are putting millions of young lives at risk, Fadil said.

UNICEF said only 37 per cent of its call for US$173.5 million for life-saving support for women and children in Pakistan has been heeded by the international community.

We know the climate crisis played a central role in supercharging the cascading calamities evident in Pakistan. We must do everything within our power to ensure girls and boys in Pakistan are able to fully recover from the current disaster, and to protect and safeguard them from the next one, Fadil said.

--BERNAMA