ISLAMABAD: Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan to visit and “support communities affected by devastating floods”, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said Tuesday, in a trip intended to draw international attention to the nation’s unfolding humanitarian crisis.
Floods caused by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountain regions have submerged a third of the land, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 people, and impacting an estimated 33 million more, washing away homes, roads, railways, livestock and crops.
Authorities have warned it could take up to six months for the flood waters to recede in the hardest-hit areas, as fears rise over the threat posed by waterborne diseases including cholera and dengue.
The deluge has left 3.4 million children in need of “immediate, lifesaving support,” according to UNICEF, leaving them vulnerable to contracting water-borne diseases, including dengue fever and malaria.
Jolie “is visiting to witness and gain [an] understanding of the situation, and to hear from people affected directly about their needs, and about steps to prevent such suffering in the future,” the IRC said in a statement.
Jolie, who previously visited victims of the 2010 floods and the 2005 earthquake, will visit the IRC’s emergency response operations and local organisations assisting displaced people, including Afghan refugees. The actor is also a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency
It is unclear how long the trip is expected to last.
Sherry Rehman, the minister for climate change, described the situation as “the worst humanitarian disaster of this decade” and has called for urgent international help in providing “food, tents and medicines.”
Jolie “will see first-hand how countries like Pakistan are paying the greatest cost for a crisis they did not cause,” the IRC said in its statement.
“The IRC hopes her visit will shed light on this issue and prompt the international community — particularly states contributing the most to carbon emissions — to act and provide urgent support to countries bearing the brunt of the climate crisis,” it added.
Her visit will also highlight the need for urgent support for the people and long-term solutions to address the multiplying crises of climate change, human displacement and protracted insecurity we are witnessing globally, the statement said.
