Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Pakistan Floods
(Reuters) - The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than 3 million people so far, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday,
The catastrophe, which started almost a week ago and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected and conditions are ripe for the outbreak of disease.
Anger was palpable in towns such as Charssada. A Reuters reporter saw people attacking trucks distributing relief items. Police then charged at them with batons.
UNICEF spokesman Abdul Sami Malik told Reuters of the more than 3 million affected, 1.3 million people were severely impacted by the floods in the northwest, losing homes and livelihoods. More than 1,400 have died, he said.
Authorities forecast more of the heavy monsoon rains that have been lashing the area for the past week. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said more than 29,500 houses were damaged and a key trade highway to China was blocked by flooding.
Waters have receded in some flooded areas. But UNICEF's Malik expressed concern that waters were spreading from the worst hit province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Pakistan's Punjab heartland, the major food-producing province, as well as the Sindh region.
Several parts of southern Punjab have been hit by floods. The army said that 20,000 people have been rescued there.
In the northwest, the bloated, infected carcasses of animals floated on the water, raising the specter of diseases such as cholera. Food prices are also rising sharply as agriculture has been wiped out, adding to the people's misery.
"Roads to some districts are no longer there. Coping mechanisms of people are lost because they don't have any assets to sell to buy food," said Mohammad Rafiq from UNICEF.
*(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider in ISLAMABAD, Faris Ali in CHARSSADA, Hammad Farooqi in CHAKDARA and Asim Tanveer in MULTAN; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Miral Fahmy)
The catastrophe, which started almost a week ago and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected and conditions are ripe for the outbreak of disease.
Anger was palpable in towns such as Charssada. A Reuters reporter saw people attacking trucks distributing relief items. Police then charged at them with batons.
UNICEF spokesman Abdul Sami Malik told Reuters of the more than 3 million affected, 1.3 million people were severely impacted by the floods in the northwest, losing homes and livelihoods. More than 1,400 have died, he said.
Authorities forecast more of the heavy monsoon rains that have been lashing the area for the past week. Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said more than 29,500 houses were damaged and a key trade highway to China was blocked by flooding.
Waters have receded in some flooded areas. But UNICEF's Malik expressed concern that waters were spreading from the worst hit province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to Pakistan's Punjab heartland, the major food-producing province, as well as the Sindh region.
Several parts of southern Punjab have been hit by floods. The army said that 20,000 people have been rescued there.
In the northwest, the bloated, infected carcasses of animals floated on the water, raising the specter of diseases such as cholera. Food prices are also rising sharply as agriculture has been wiped out, adding to the people's misery.
"Roads to some districts are no longer there. Coping mechanisms of people are lost because they don't have any assets to sell to buy food," said Mohammad Rafiq from UNICEF.
*(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider in ISLAMABAD, Faris Ali in CHARSSADA, Hammad Farooqi in CHAKDARA and Asim Tanveer in MULTAN; Editing by Chris Allbritton and Miral Fahmy)
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