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Iconic sites in Pakistans Sindh province such as the Mohenjo-Daro ruins, Kot Diji, Ranikot suffered widespread damage during the recent catastrophic floods. At Mohenjo-Daro alone, the record rain have damaged excavated areas and exposed the ones buried underneath by creating furrows in them, Dawn news reported.
The accumulated water has seeped into the excavated areas, loosening the soil and resultantly tilting the walls. This site, among the primary surviving bastions of the Indus Valley Civilization as it dates back to 2,500 B.C., is one of the last remaining connections Pakistan has with prehistory, Dawn reported.
The Mound of the Dead, one of Mohenjo-Daro's most iconic features, is covered in blue tarpaulin.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Pakistan's catastrophic flooding has increased to 1,162 as the cash-strapped country struggles to rescue and care for millions of people displaced by the surging waters.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the victims included 384 children and 231 women, and the death toll is expected to further increase in the coming days, dpa news agency reported on Wednesday.
More than 33 million people in some 116 of Pakistan's 160 administrative districts have been affected by the floods triggered by incessant monsoon rain since mid-Jine, with at least 72 districts being declared disaster areas.
Hundreds of thousands of people are currently living without food, clean water, shelter and basic basic medicines. The floods inundated over 2 million acres of agricultural land, destroying crops of cotton, rice, dates, tomato, chilli and other vegetables.
The torrential rain that have left most of Sindh inundated have not spared these ruins either, and workers scramble to reinforce the retaining wall of the mound as water seeps down into the unexcavated parts of the site, carving channels as it goes, Dawn reported.
While the government and welfare organisations battle to provide relief and rehabilitate the hundreds of thousands left homeless by the savage monsoon downpours, heritage and archaeological sites across the province are also in dire need of repair.
Reports emanating from various parts of the province paint a pretty bleak picture; the very forts, tombs which symbolise the glorious past of the region are now in danger of crumbling, Dawn reported.
Apart from that, the Buddhist stupa at Thul Mir Rukan has fallen victim to the inclement weather as its drum has been broken. The floods have not spared the famous Makli monuments in Thatta and Banbhore either, both internationally renowned archeological sites.
