Heavy flooding caused by monsoon rains in Pakistan kills dozens
Poorly built homes across Pakistan – particularly in rural areas – are prone to collapse in floods, which also destroy huge tracts of prime farmland.
Pakistan is the eighth most vulnerable country to extreme weather caused by climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index compiled by environmental NGO Germanwatch.
Intense floods have killed dozens of people and left hundreds homeless in Pakistan, officials say, as heavy monsoon rains batter the country.
In the southern province of Balochistan, 57 people, including women and children, were killed after being swept away in flood waters, Ziaullah Langove, the disaster and home affairs advisor to the province's chief minister, said on Saturday.
Langove added that eight dams had burst due to the heavy rains.
Hundreds more were left homeless after their homes collapsed in the rain and flooding, he said, adding monsoon rains were continuing.
In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, two people, including a six-year-old, died and four were injured when their house collapsed due to rain, according to a district official statement.
READ MORE: Monsoon rains leave dozens dead in Pakistan
Rains wreak havoc
Heavy rains have lashed the country in recent days, leaving large swathes of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, inundated.
In neighbouring Afghanistan, 24 people have been killed by floods in the east and south of the country, a disaster management agency spokesperson said on Friday.
Pakistan's navy said it was joining efforts to evacuate citizens and deliver rations and fresh water in Balochistan.
In 2010, the worst floods in memory affected 20 million people in Pakistan, with damage to infrastructure running into billions of dollars and huge swathes of crops destroyed as one-fifth of the country was inundated.
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