Angelina Jolie urges people to ‘learn and follow what is happening’ in Pakistan after floods

Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie arrived in Pakistan last week to support and directly speak to families affected by the floods. She landed in Karachi and immediately was taken to Dadu, Sindh where she surveyed the damage caused by the floods. A week later the actor has taken to Instagram and shared photos of the landscape destroyed by floods and written that people need to “learn and follow what is happening” there.

On Thursday, she shared photos from her visit and of herself looking out a helicopter window to examine the damage. When Jolie arrived she surveyed flood-stricken areas in Johi via helicopter. “Last week I was in Pakistan with International Rescue Committee and local organisations, to witness the devastation caused by severe flooding which submerged 1/3 of the country’s land,” she wrote.

The Maleficent actor stated that 33 million people have been affected with over 6 million in dire need of “emergency humanitarian assistance”.

On her visit, she met both flood victims and Afghan refugees in the country. “Pakistan also still hosts over a million Afghan refugees who are unable to return safely due to the current situation. Those I was able to reach were still in shock from having fled the Taliban, and now knowing the country they have fled to is in an emergency,” she added.

Jolie emphasised that the level of trauma and compound trauma is severe and how people need to learn about the situation and “be aware of the climate catastrophe” that we’re seeing.

She urged that people need to push governments to understand “the lack of fair trade, rising emissions and failure to address conflicts” are causing more death and suffering to millions of families across the world.

The star previously visited Pakistan in 2010 and 2005 to meet victims of the earthquakes.