BBC News:
The calls are growing louder. Pakistan desperately needs help after its worst floods in years, and it needs it fast.
“This climate calamity couldn’t have come at a worse time, when Pakistan’s economy was already struggling with a balance of payments crisis, rising debt, and soaring inflation,” Maleeha Lodhi, former Pakistan ambassador to the UN and the UK, told the BBC.
If the country doesn’t get debt relief, she added, the economy risks “tanking”.
Catastrophic rain linked to climate change has submerged large parts of the country, killing nearly 1,500 people and affecting roughly 33 million people.
Homes, roads, railways, crops, livestock and livelihoods have been washed away in the extreme weather event.
With agriculture making up nearly a quarter of Pakistan’s economy, officials now say the unprecedented floods may have cost up to $40bn (£35bn).
Across the country, an estimated 800,000 cattle – a key source of income for rural families – have been lost in the floods.
Farmers who have not had their crops and livestock washed away are now reportedly running low on feed for their cattle.
There will likely be more pain ahead with a food crisis looming.
