Angelina Jolie is due to visit areas of Pakistan that have been hit by the floods, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said in a statement on Monday – on a trip intended to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country. country.
Floods caused by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in the mountainous regions of northern Pakistan have submerged a third of the country’s land, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 people and impacting an estimated 33 million others, destroying homes, roads, railways, livestock and plantations.
Authorities have warned it could take up to six months for floodwaters to recede in the hardest-hit areas of the country, as fears mount over the threat posed by water-borne diseases including cholera and dengue.
The flood left 3.4 million children in need of “immediate and life-saving support”, according to UNICEF, leaving them vulnerable to contracting water-borne diseases including dengue and malaria.
Jolie “is visiting to witness and understand the situation and to hear directly from those affected about their needs and about measures to prevent such suffering in the future,” the statement said.
She will visit IRC response operations and local organizations that are helping the displaced, he added.
It’s unclear whether Jolie has ever arrived in Pakistan or how long the trip is expected to take.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s climate change minister, described the situation as “the worst humanitarian disaster of this decade” and called for urgent international assistance in providing “food, tents and medicine”.
“Karachi is seeing an outbreak of dengue as hundreds and thousands of patients are reporting daily in government and private hospitals. Dengue cases this year are 50% higher than last year. With 584,246 people in camps across the country, the health crisis could wreak havoc if left unchecked,” Rehman said last week.
The country also faces the prospect of dire food shortages due to the destruction of up to 70% of staple crops such as rice and maize. Total economic damage is now expected to total more than $30 billion – triple the government’s previous estimates.
Both the Pakistani government and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres have blamed global climate change for the worsening extreme weather that has caused “steroid monsoons”.
Jolie “will see firsthand how countries like Pakistan are paying the heaviest cost for a crisis they did not cause,” the IRC said in its statement.
“The IRC hopes that its visit will shed light on this issue and prompt the international community – particularly the states that contribute the most to carbon emissions – to take action and provide urgent support to countries impacted by the climate crisis,” he added.
Jolie had previously visited the country in 2005 and 2010 after natural disasters, the IRC said.
Source: CNN Brasil
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