Rescuers are rushing to evacuate
residents as floods devastate parts of
Punjab in Pakistan. One city, Seielcott,
has seen more rainfall in 24 hours than
the highest record in the past 49 years.
So far, more than 800 people in Pakistan
have been killed by monsoon rains since
June. Our Pakistan correspondent Azad
Mashiri is in one of the worst affected
districts, Narowal. And a day clearly
the challenge there for the rescuers is
immense. Tell us about the the efforts
to get to people.
>> Well, emergency teams have warned of
exceptionally high flooding in Punjab.
But the damage, the devastation, it's
already here. Our team has seen it.
Hundreds of more rescue boats have been
deployed. One official told us they're
racing to save casualties. Now in
Narowal, this district is heavily
affected and that's because it's near
the river Ravi that has swollen. There
are dangerous levels of water there as
India had warned there would be after
they released water from some of their
major dams. That's what happens when
reservoirs are overwhelmed upstream in
India. It can cause heavy flooding here
in Pakistan. Add to that the heavy rains
that have been pounding the country this
week. Seialot as you mentioned has seen
extreme flooding. That's an urban area
and so homes, buildings, cars are
submerged and rescuers are not only
evacuating people but also their
livestock. This is a country where more
than 40% of people live below the
poverty line. And so these floods are
ruinous to so many families. And that's
why many people we've spoken to uh in
the past two days have told us they're
refusing to evacuate. They would rather
take their chances, protect as much of
their property and their belongings as
they can, even if that means risking
their lives.
>> And for those who do choose to leave or
leave because of the circumstances as a
day, uh what facilities are are there
for them?
>> Well, the government rescuers have set
up shelters on higher ground and so a
lot of people are actually being
evacuated by boats. We went along with
some of the rescuers yesterday uh and
they have been taking these people to
these shelters. But officials have told
us that the majority of people who do
choose to be evacuated tend to go and
stay with friends and family, they
aren't comfortable staying at those
shelters. And when I say that some
people refusing to evacuate, it's really
large proportions of people. Uh in fact,
the village that we visited is a village
of about 3,000 people. Uh it's about 2
hours from Lahore which is the the
second most populous city here in
Pakistan. Now while there are 3,000
residents there half about half of the
residents were refusing to evacuate. So
that shows you how many people are at
risk when there's extreme flooding like
this especially when a lot of these
people live near rivereds
>> and then coming back to the fact that
India much of this water is there
because of India uh releasing water from
dams. talk to us about the politics of
of all of this as a day and whether
there are any efforts any mechanisms to
try to uh control this to to reach out
to the Indian government to try to
prevent something like this happening.
>> India like Pakistan has suffered through
very heavy monsoon rains. There are very
difficult days for India as well and
when there is heavy rain when dams
reservoirs are reaching their capacity
they tend to release water. Now the
Indis water treaty a landmark water
treaty that has been around for decades
was established for precisely this sort
of situation. One of its main purposes
is so that India has a route to warn
Pakistan that there could be flooding
when they release water from their dams.
When the two countries went through
their most significant military conflict
in decades in May, India said it
suspended unilaterally suspended that
water treaty. Something that Pakistan
had at the time said would be an act of
war. What we're seeing play out now is a
rare moment of diplomacy by these two
countries in recent months where India
has despite its uh statements about the
water treaty warned the Pakistani
government that this would take place
and that therefore there would be heavy
flooding. So this is a rare moment of of
dialogue publicly between the two
countries. Okay, as a day Masher, thank
you very much for