• Tuesday, 24 December 2024

UN chief: Devastation wrought by Pakistan floods 'unimaginable'

UN chief: Devastation wrought by Pakistan floods 'unimaginable'
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Saturday visited flood-hit regions of southern Pakistan, where authorities are struggling to rescue tens of thousands of people displaced by floods. "Unimaginable," Guterres is heard saying in a video of him flying over the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The UN chief was briefed about the impact of the floods and subsequently urged the international community to lend massive financial support. Guterres said that Pakistan was one of the 15 hotspots of climate change and called on the world to provide “massive support” so that the country can avoid another such disaster. He said what the UN was doing in Pakistan “is a drop in the ocean of what is needed." The UN chief is on a two-day visit of the country aimed at raising awareness of the disaster. The unprecedented floods that were triggered by heavy monsoon rains in June have killed 1,396 people so far, a third of them children, and inundated an area larger than the size of Britain.