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ISLAMABAD: The United Nations has released $600,000 in emergency relief funds for Pakistan, the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson confirmed this week, as the death toll from deadly monsoon rains and floods across the country crossed 800. 

Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across Pakistan, damaging crops, killing livestock and destroying thousands of houses in the country. Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has reported 802 deaths from monsoon rains and floods since Jun. 26 and 1,088 injuries. 

Rain continues to batter several parts of the country, especially its eastern, most populous Punjab province, where rising water levels in the Sutlej and Ravi rivers have prompted authorities to evacuate over 170,000 people from vulnerable areas. 

“The [Pakistani] authorities are leading the response, with support from the United Nations and local partners,” Stéphane Dujarric, the UN secretary-general’s spokesperson, told reporters during a media briefing on Monday. 

“Over the weekend, Tom Fletcher, our Emergency Relief Coordinator, released $600,000 from the regional pooled fund to support the ongoing efforts.”

Unusually heavy rains since Aug. 15 have killed 489 people and left 348 injured. Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has reported the highest deaths since mid-August, 408 and 258 injuries according to figures shared by the NDMA. 

Dujarric said that according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Pakistanis affected by the flooding need shelter supplies, medical assistance, cash, hygiene kits, clean drinking water and education. 

Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body earlier on Tuesday approved the release of Rs3 billion ($10.8 million) in emergency funds for flood-affected families in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. 

EVACUATIONS, RISING WATER LEVELS

Separately, the NDMA issued an advance alert to the provincial disaster agency in Punjab, the PDMA, regarding rising water levels in the Sutlej River and potential floods. The alert prompted large-scale evacuation operations in areas near the Sutlej River.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a meeting to review the flood situation and relief operations across the country, his office said. 

Sharif directed that rescue operations in the flood-hit districts of Punjab, affected by the overflowing Sutlej river, be further accelerated, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. 

Officials informed Sharif that residents of vulnerable areas near the Sutlej River have been relocated, and that no loss of life has been reported so far.

“Rescue operations are continuing in flood-affected districts near Sutlej River and so far, 174,074 people have been safely evacuated,” the PMO said. 

The prime minister was informed that work to restore power in KP’s flood-affected areas was underway, while in Gilgit-Baltistan, a two-kilometer stretch of the National Highway remains submerged. 

“The meeting was informed that in the next 12 to 24 hours that heavy rainfall is expected in Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Rawalpindi divisions as well as in the districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and parts of Gilgit Baltistan,” Sharif’s office said. 

Officials say the ongoing monsoon spell is expected to last until at least Sept. 10, while the NDMA has warned the rains could rival the scale of the catastrophic floods of 2022, which killed more than 1,700 people and caused over $30 billion in damage.

Annual monsoon rains are crucial for Pakistan’s agriculture and water supply but in recent years have also unleashed devastation, intensified by shifting climate patterns.

Despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Pakistan ranks among the countries most vulnerable to climate change. In recent years it has endured increasingly erratic weather, including droughts, heatwaves and record-breaking rains that have caused widespread loss of life and damage to property.

Experts warn that without urgent adaptation and mitigation measures, the human and economic toll of climate change in Pakistan will only deepen in the years ahead.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received a $6 million grant from China for the reconstruction of houses destroyed by floods in the southwestern province of Balochistan, state media said on Tuesday.

The ongoing spell of monsoon rains has killed 802 people and injured 1,088 across the country, with 24 fatalities in Balochistan since June 26.

Thirty houses have been completely destroyed and 145 partially damaged during the ongoing monsoon season in the province, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“The monthly foreign economic assistance report released by the Economic Affairs Division for July 2025 reveals that the grant of $6 million from China has been disbursed,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported.

The Chinese aid will help displaced families by providing them with durable housing solutions. It is part of China’s broader development assistance to Pakistan which also includes funding for infrastructure, energy and scientific research.

The APP also quoted Khurram Shehzad, the adviser to Pakistan’s finance minister, as saying China’s support underscored its commitment to strengthening infrastructure and housing in Pakistan’s most vulnerable areas.

China has previously aided Pakistan following floods with grants, relief supplies and reconstruction support.

The two countries are close allies and have been jointly working on multibillion-dollar energy and infrastructure development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).