MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – Nearly 355 people have been killed in India and Pakistan after heavy monsoon rain, leading to landslides and floodwaters, CNN reports.
"The damage is shocking, people have been stranded on rooftops of their homes for the last three days”, claims a New Delhi senior official.
The catastrophe took Pakistani and Indian authorities by surprise. The rain has been falling for 5 days, destroying numerous houses, flushing entire villages and causing hundreds of deaths. As a result of heavy rain related cataclysms, 205 people were killed in Pakistan, another 150 were reported dead in India.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the situation a "national disaster", as Indians haven’t witnessed such a flooding for more than five decades. State authorities launched massive rescue operations, using boats and helicopters to transfer villagers caught by the flooding to a safer place. According to India's Ministry of Defence, soldiers rescued some 20 000 people in India's Jammu and Kashmir state.
Pakistan's armed forces also carried out a series of life-saving missions. “Army helicopters and navy boats are rescuing people and taking them to safety from submerged villages in Punjab and affected areas of Kashmir”, said Ahmed Kamal, spokesman for Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority.
Remarkable is the fact that Indian Prime Minister offered Pakistan assistance in its relief efforts. For the countries, strained by numerous historical issues and political conflicts, it’s a great step forward in improving their interstate relations.
