Support for Pakistan has ebbed away – yet its deadly floodwaters have not | Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif

Climate disasters continue to ravage our country - more international aid is urgently needed to save millions from misery

• Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is the prime minister of Pakistan

The apocalyptic rains and floods that hit Pakistan last summer claimed 1,700 lives, left a swathe of territory the size of Switzerland under water and affected 33 million people - more people than live in most European countries.

International attention has receded, but the waters have not. Large parts of Sindh and Balochistan provinces remain inundated. The number of food-insecure people in Pakistan has doubled to 14 million; another 9 million have been pushed into extreme poverty. These flooded areas now look like a huge series of permanent lakes, transforming forever the terrain and the lives of people living there. No amount of pumps can remove this water in less than a year; and by July 2023, the worry is that these areas may flood again.