Hundreds of people have been killed and millions of others displaced by monsoon floods across South Asia.
Large swathes of land, from Pakistan to Myanmar, lie submerged under water, as torrential rains continue across the region. Nepal, Vietnam, Bangladesh and India have all been hit by the flooding.
On Thursday, Pakistani authorities said the nationwide death toll from flooding had risen to 169, as rescuers used helicopters and boats to move stranded residents to higher ground. The country’s National Disaster Management Authority said the floods, which began in early July, have affected 900,000 people in 2,495 villages across Pakistan.
In neighbouring India, more 20 people were killed and over 100 injured on Wednesday when two express trains were partially swept off a flooded bridge over a river in central India. Government said that heavy monsoon rains over the past month have killed at least 192 people across the country, in flooding, landslides and building collapses in recent days. The damage has extended from central India to the northeastern states of Manipur and Assam.
Myanmar has been particularly affected by this year’s monsoon. The UN estimates that some 259,000 people have been affected across the country.
Thousands of people have been left homeless and have lost the crops. Many areas are still cut off leaving thousands without aid.
“The heaviest affected areas are among the poorest states in Myanmar, a country where nearly 70 percent of people live close to the $2-per-day poverty threshold, and children make up 34 per cent of the population,” Shalini Bahuguna, from UNICEF, said.