Pakistan reported 18 flood-related casualties on Wednesday as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for a “sustainable system” to cope with the challenges of climate change, which is seen as the primary reason that triggered unprecedented rains and floods in Pakistan this monsoon season. Authorities have been struggling to respond to the floods given their unprecedented magnitude. The government has said 33 million people — 15pc of its population — have been affected.A daily situation report by the National Disaster Management Authority showed on Wednesday that 18 more people had fallen victim to the deadly flood over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll since June 14 to 1,343.The National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC) confirmed the tally in a separate statement, saying that 17 people were injured due to flash floods over the past 24 hours, taking the total number of injured reported so far to 12,720. The statement added that rain/thundershowers were expected in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Balstistan, as well as adjoining hills today, while the weather would likely remain hot an humid in other areas of the country. This morning, the NFRCC Deputy chairperson Ahsan Iqbal and the
forum’s coordinator, Major General Zafar Iqbal, presided over a meeting of the forum to review the flood situation. The flood situation in Sindh and Balochistan — two of the worst-affected provinces — and rehabilitation activities were the focus of the discussion, a statement issued after the meeting said.
The meeting was informed that digital mapping of affected areas would be carried out to prioritise the rehabilitation of communication infrastructure and population.
Ahsan Iqbal further directed the relevant authorities to complete the joint damage assessment survey on “war footing” so that rehabilitation activities could be focused on, including the repair of communication infrastructure.
Source: aljazeera.com
Thursday, April 23, 2026
