Nights are like ‘doomsday’ -Pakistan flood victim

STORY: Pakistanis sheltering at this relief camp after historic flooding say there’s little relief to be found at night.

There are too many mosquitoes... and only a few nets in sight.

Electricity is also in short supply.

In the hardest-hit Sindh province, Zulfiqar Solangi described it in apocalyptic terms.

“We spend each night with great difficulty. Every night is like a doomsday for us. The mosquitoes are biting and the children can not sleep due to them. The children are falling sick due to mosquito bites and the hospitals here are not able to treat every disease from mosquito bites.”

Floods from record monsoon rains and glacial melt in the mountainous north have affected 33 million people and killed almost 1,400.

Water submerged nearly a third of the country, with Sindh receiving 466% more rain than average.

Both the government and the U.N. secretary general have pointed the finger at climate change.

Last week, Antonio Guterres said he had never seen “climate carnage” on this scale.

Those staying in the camp say children are struggling to cope.

“There is no drinking water here and we are drinking the flood water. The children are falling sick. There are lots of mosquitoes here and the children cry the whole night. We continue to fan the children the whole night, but yet it is difficult for them to sleep. In the day we are under the hot sun. There is no proper shade, neither any arrangement of food nor water here. This is what we are facing here.”

U.N. agencies have begun work to assess the country’s reconstruction needs, with Guterres calling for global financial help.

So far... the damage is estimated to be in the tens of billions.