No pause for food delivery riders amid Pakistan monsoon

ABDULLAH Abbas waded through Lahore's flooded streets, struggling to push his motorcycle and deliver a food order on time.

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The water had risen to his torso, his jeans soaked and rolled up over sandals, leaving him vulnerable to electrocution and infectious diseases.

Even as monsoon rains deluge Pakistan's cities, food and grocery orders on the Singapore-based delivery platform Foodpanda pour in.

"If I don't deliver the orders, my Foodpanda account will get blocked, which would leave me without money," Abbas said in the old quarter of Lahore, known for its narrow, congested streets.

"I need this money to pay my high school fees," added the 19-year-old, who is completing his last year of secondary school.

Since June, monsoon rains in Pakistan have killed more than 1 000 people, swelling major rivers and devastating rural communities along their banks.

Urban centres such as Lahore, a city of more than 14 million people, and

Karachi, the country's largest city with more than 25 million people, have also suffered urban flooding in part because of poorly planned development.

Abbas earns around $7 (about R120) a day, above the average salary, but only when the sun is shining.