Urgent aid appeal launched as satellite images show a third of Pakistan underwater

Aid workers have appealed for urgent donations to fight the “absolutely devastating” impact of flooding in Pakistan, as new satellite images appeared to confirm that a third of the country is now underwater.

As the UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched an appeal to raise funds for the 33 million people affected, the European Space Agency released stark images based on data captured by its Copernicus satellite.

Those pictures appear to confirm the Pakistani government’s assessment that more than a third of the country – an area roughly the size of the UK – has been submerged by monsoon rainfall, estimated to have been 10 times more severe than usual.

“The Indus River has overflowed, effectively creating a long lake, tens of kilometres wide,” Esa said in a statement.

The floods have claimed more than 1,100 lives, including 399 children, destroyed more than a million homes and swept away crops, livestock and major infrastructure such as roads and bridges.