ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — United Nations chief Antonio Guterres began a two-day visit to flood-hit Pakistan Friday that officials hope will boost global support for a humanitarian crisis affecting millions.
A third of the country is under water — an area the size of the United Kingdom — following record rains brought by what Guterres has described as "a monsoon on steroids."
Pakistan officials say it will cost at least $10 billion to rebuild and repair damaged infrastructure — an impossible sum for the deeply indebted nation — but the priority, for now, is food and shelter for millions made homeless.
"Everything is drowned, everything washed away," Ayaz Ali, suffering from fever, said as he reluctantly took his place Thursday on a navy boat rescuing villagers from flooded rural communities in southern Sindh province.
The floods have killed nearly 1,400 people, according to the latest National Disaster Management Authority report.
