KARACHI: Authorities reported on Wednesday that 324 people had died from malaria and other diseases ravaging Pakistan’s flood-ravaged regions. Actress Angelina Jolie expressed concern that many of the people she had met while visiting flood-affected areas this week would “not make it” if more aid did not arrive.
Many of the hundreds of thousands of flood victims were living outside. It may take two to six months for hundreds of kilometres of stagnant floodwaters to subside. Already, they have caused numerous cases of diarrhoea, malaria, typhoid, skin and eye infections, and dengue fever.
In an effort to raise awareness, Hollywood actress and humanitarian Jolie travelled with the international assistance organisation IRC to visit flood victims. She visited some of the southern Sindh province’s hardest hit areas.
She stated, “I’ve seen those lives who were saved,” but added that others “won’t be here in the next few weeks, they won’t make it” without adequate treatment. Her remarks, which she made while touring the nation’s flood response centre, were captured on video and released by the military of the nation on Wednesday.
More immediate assistance is required, according to authorities and humanitarian workers, for displaced families who are at risk of mosquito swarms and other dangers like snake and dog bites. Many people still have an urgent need for food, shelter, medical care, and medications despite the efforts of the government and international and local aid organisations.
Families who have been forced to relocate complain of being compelled to drink and cook with hazardous water because of Pakistan’s already inadequate health system and lack of support. About three times as much rain fell in Pakistan during a record and strong monsoon as compared to the three-decade normal. This led to record flooding when combined with glacier melt.
