Pakistan floods claim 1,300 lives as officials brace to contain water-borne diseases

Officials in Pakistan amped up the effort to control the spread of water-borne diseases as the country faces the worst flood in decades.

Nearly 1,300 people have been killed so far due to unprecedented floods triggered by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan's northern mountains, as authorities stepped up efforts to contain the spread of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and malaria in the affected areas.

The cataclysmic floods have inundated a third of the country, displaced more than 33 million and has caused economic damages to the tune of USD 12.5 billion to Pakistan’s already teetering economy.

At least 26 people were killed in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,290 as on Sunday, while another 12,588 were injured, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The NDMA said that 492 people have died in Sindh, followed by 286 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, 259 in Balochistan, 188 in Punjab, 42 in Kashmir, 22 in Gilgit-Baltistan and one in Islamabad.

Floods have also destroyed about 5,563 kms of roads and 243 bridges, while 1,468,019 houses were partially or fully damaged and 736,459 livestock killed, it said.

Sindh province is still facing the brunt as officials made a cut in the embankment of swelled Manchar lake to save Sehwan and Bhan Saeedabad towns from getting inundated, according to Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon.