164 killed in rain-triggered accidents in Pakistan monsoon season

Source: Xinhua| 2017-09-07 08:20:56|Editor: ying
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ISLAMABAD, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Some 164 people have been killed, 167 others injured and 440 houses destroyed in separated rain-related incidents in the monsoon season since the end of June this year across Pakistan, the Pakistani disaster management authorities said late Wednesday.

Pakistan's southern Sindh and eastern Punjab provinces were the worst hit with 38 fatalities in each province since the advent of the monsoon season in the last week of June, the country's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a press release.

The torrential rains have left hundreds of people homeless, forcing them to live under the open skies.

Teams from the NDMA and provincial governments are carrying out rescue and relief operation in the affected areas.

The NDMA said that they have provided a total of 873 tents, 1,150 food bags containing wheat, rice and other edibles to the displaced people so far. The department have also distributed 590 blankets and 1,400 sleeping bags among the displaced.

The NDMA has dispatched three boats to rescue trapped people in the calamity-hit provincial capital city Karachi in Sindh.

Monsoon rains hit Pakistan every year in June and the season normally ends in the first week of September. During this period, the country receives heavy rains which cause flooding in various areas.

The NDMA said that more rains are likely to hit Punjab and Sindh over the next 24 hours, but added that the flood situation is under control as all the rivers in the country are flowing at normal levels.

The most destructive flood caused by rainwaters hit the country in 2010 in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh, sweeping away 20 percent of the land and leaving about 1,540 people dead.

According to a UN report, 557,226 houses were destroyed, and over six million people displaced in the 2010 flood.

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