ISLAMABAD: The death toll of Pakistan’s catastrophic flooding was rising steadily on Wednesday as the cash-strapped country struggles to rescue and care for millions of people displaced by surging waters.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that 1,162people, including 384 children and 231 women, had died due to flooding since mid-June. The numbers are expected to further increase in the coming days. More than 33 million people in some 116 of Pakistan’s 160 administrative districts have been affected by the floods, with at least 72 districts being declared disaster areas.

Hundreds of thousands of people are currently living without food,clean water, shelter and basic medicines. The floods inundated over 2 million acres of agricultural land,destroying crops of cotton, rice, dates, tomatoes, chilli peppers and other vegetables.

In addition, more than 730,000 cattle have also been killed so far by the raging floods. Livestock is a lifeline for the rural population and a source of income for more than eight million people.

The water has damaged more than one million houses, over 5,000 kilometres of roads, and 243 bridges, according to the latest reports.

Food and vegetable prices in the country have skyrocketed after crops on thousands of hectares of land were lost in recent weeks.

The situation prompted the government to consider lifting a ban on trade with India and allowing the import of vegetables and other foodstuffs, but officials fell short of taking any decision.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said international agencies had approached the government seeking permission to bring food items from India through the land border. — dpa