UNICEF: More children will die in Pakistan

Along the highways near the city of Peshawar in northern Pakistan, large groups of people set up makeshift camps. It’s still summer and around 35°C, but due to massive flooding in the last few weeks, there’s nowhere to hide from the heat.

In many places, paved roads are the only dry places to reach, and the many millions of people who have been displaced from their homes have nowhere else to go.

Abdullah Fazel, of the United Nations agency for UNICEF in Pakistan, says the damage caused by this year’s monsoons could take decades to build up.

– It is related to the climate crisis to which many countries have contributed. Pakistan has not, on the other hand, the country has been affected in large part by climatic disasters, he says on his way to the hard-hit town of Nowshera.

About 100 schools were destroyed there alone.

Empty warehouses

It is estimated that a third of the country was inundated by floods. This means the destruction of hospital facilities, a complete lack of hygiene supplies, hundreds of thousands of destroyed homes and destroyed infrastructure.

UNICEF’s stockpile in the country quickly depleted, as supplies are required in all provinces. And the danger does not end with the last rains, because when the bodies of water are stagnant, malaria, dengue and other diseases spread more easily.

So far, 33 million people have been affected by the disaster, and more than 1,100 people have died. Among them are more than 300 children, according to Abdullah Fadel.

Food shortage

Even before the floods, Pakistan was going through a severe economic crisis. With farmland now buried under water, large parts of this year’s crop are expected to be destroyed, and it likely won’t be possible to grow anything there next year, AFP reports.

According to the United Nations Food Program (WFP), more than one-fifth of Pakistan’s population of 225 million is malnourished today. For 44 percent of all children under the age of five, malnutrition has stunted growth.

– More weak and already vulnerable children will die, says Abdullah Fadel.