Pakistan ex-PM Khan holds telethon to collect funds for flood victims

Torrential rains and flooding have killed more than 1,100 people, including 380 children, in Pakistan, where army helicopters plucked stranded families and dropped food packages to inaccessible areas while the United Nations appealed on Tuesday for $160 million in aid.

Khan appealed to viewers to actively participate in the telethon and donate.

Khan’s aide, the party spokesperson and telethon host Faisal Javed Khan, said they collected pledges of over Rs.5 billion (22.5 million USD).

The country has received nearly 190% more rain in the quarter through August this year, totalling 390.7 millimetres, than the 30-year average. Sindh province, with a population of 50 million, has been hardest hit, getting 466% more rain than the 30-year average.

The historic deluge, triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rains, has impacted 33 million people, destroying homes and businesses, infrastructure and crops.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday the $160 million appeal by the U.N. for flood aid "needs to be multiplied rapidly" and pledged transparency for "every penny".

Sharif also said he feared the devastation caused by recent floods would further derail an economy that has already been in turmoil, possibly leading to an acute food shortage and adding to skyrocketing inflation, which stood at 24.9% in July.

Wheat sowing could also be delayed by the floods and to mitigate the impact of that Pakistan is already in talks with Russia about wheat imports, he added.