Pakistan’s deadly floods may have cost the cash-strapped nation over $10bn as around one third of the country is feared to be underwater.
The early estimates of the cost of the deluge came from the country’s planning minister Ahsan Iqbal on Monday, who said the world has an obligation to help the South Asian nation cope with the effects of the man-made climate crisis.
“I think it is going to be huge. So far, (a) very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10bn,” Mr Iqbal told Reuters in an interview.
The minister said it might take five years to rebuild and rehabilitate the nation, while in the near term it will be confronted with acute food shortages.
Unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains have washed away roads, crops, infrastructure and bridges, killing at least 1,000 people in recent weeks and affecting more than 33 million, over 15 per cent of the country’s 220 million population.
Meanwhile, aid from countries like Turkey and Qatar began arriving in Pakistan on Monday.
