More than 33 million people have been affected by the historic rains and floods that swept through Pakistan, the country’s climate minister told Reuters.
Since June, more than 900 people have died from monsoon rains and floods that continue to break weather records. Pakistan’s climate minister said the government was fighting a “climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”.
The cash-strapped nation has asked for additional international help.
Climate Minister Sherry Rehman said the country was going through its eighth monsoon cycle “while normally the country only gets three or four cycles of rain.”
“The percentages of super flood torrents are shocking,” she said.
Since the summer season began, multiple monsoon cycles have lashed Pakistan, causing massive floods that have destroyed over 400,000 homes across the country.
At least 184,000 people have been displaced and forced to evacuate to relief camps during this time, the UN’s disaster relief agency, OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), said in its update on Thursday.
It noted a lower figure – of three million people – who had been affected by the natural disaster.
However, Pakistan’s Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal had earlier said that around 30 million people – or about 15% of the population – had been affected.
Southern Pakistan has been hardest hit by the rains, mainly the province of Sindh, which has received nearly eight times its average August rainfall.
Ms Rehman on Thursday said local authorities there had asked for one million tents to house displaced people.