there are more than 1,280 dead people

() — Aid agencies have warned that Pakistan needs long-term aid as the death toll from its catastrophic floods continues to rise.

The cumulative number of deaths since June 14 rose to 1,282 on Saturday, the country’s National Disaster Management Authority reported, with almost a third of the victims being children. On Saturday alone there were another 57 deaths, 25 of them minors.

Aid agencies warn that the country’s troubles are far from over, and as the disaster continues, children will be among the most vulnerable.

The floods, the result of a combination of record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains, have been described as the worst the country has seen.

At one point, more than a third of the country was underwater, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency, with government and aid organizations saying 33 million people have been affected.

Among them, more than three million minors need urgent humanitarian assistance due to the risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition, according to Unicef. The floods also damaged or destroyed 17,566 schools across the country, UNICEF says, further jeopardizing children’s education after two years of COVID-19-related closures.

Aid agencies say that even if the floods recede, the country faces a long road to recovery.

“Survivors must start from scratch,” said Aurelie Godet, a spokeswoman for Doctors of the World, a humanitarian aid organization that has worked in Pakistan since 1966.

“This won’t be over in two months, they need long-term help.”

The two most affected provinces are Baluchistan and Sindh in southern Pakistan, where infrastructure and water systems have been damaged.

Appealing to the international community for help, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week estimated that the calamity had caused more than $10 billion in damage to infrastructure, homes and farms.

A National Flood Response and Coordination Center has been established and the World Health Organization has released $10 million to treat the injured, deliver supplies to health centers and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. China and the UK have also fiance million in aid to the country.

More than 1 million homes have been damaged or destroyed, while at least 5,000 kilometers of roads have been damaged, according to the disaster management authority.

On Saturday, a high-level body set up to coordinate relief efforts met in Islamabad for the first time, Reuters reported. A day earlier, the country’s largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, urged the government to lift a years-long ban on several international non-governmental organizations so they can help with relief efforts, according to Reuters.

Jan Camenzind Broomby of and Reuters contributed reporting.