1,100 Killed in Pakistan's Worst Flood

(News Today) - At least 1,100 people have been killed in Pakistan's worst floods for a generation as aid workers warned of an impending humanitarian catastrophe.

Rescuers were still trying to reach 27,000 survivors trapped on high ground or clinging to rooftops after the heavy monsoon rain, and the death toll was expected to rise.

Villages have been washed away and crops and infrastructure destroyed, with the government describing the destruction in the north west of the country as 'massive and devastating'.

The affected Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province, which neighbours Afghanistan, is poverty stricken and has already been hit hard by fighting between the army and the Taliban.

Oxfam has launched an emergency aid effort as more monsoon rains were predicted.

Almost 700 people have drowned in the Peshawar valley while a further 400 were killed in the Swat and Shangla regions, authorities said, as helicopters continued to pluck survivors to safety.

As evacuees arrived in camps, there were fears that disease would begin to break out before aid organisations could get resources to the area.

Jane Cocking, Oxfam's humanitarian director, said: 'This is a flood on a scale we have not seen in decades in Pakistan and requires an aid effort of equal measure. People in the flood's wake were already desperately poor and what little possessions they had have been washed away. The extent of this crisis is only slowly emerging.'

The UN estimates one million people have been affected by the floods. In the Swat region alone, more than 14,600 houses and 22 schools were destroyed the government said.

Spokesman Latifur Rehman, said: 'Whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away. The destruction is massive and devastating.'

Pakistan says it has rescued 20,700 people from the floods, with 43 helicopters and 30,000 troops deployed. But some victims still criticised the response.

Hakimullah Khan, whose wife and three children have disappeared near the town of Charsadda, said: 'Water is all around and there is no help in sight.'

The Government said the floods were the country’s worst since 1929 and the United Nations estimates 1million people have been affected nationwide.

Major-General Athar Abbas, of Pakistan’s army, said: ‘Virtually no bridge has been left in Swat. All major and minor bridges have gone, destroyed completely.’

Victim Ahmad Hasan, at a government relief camp in Taunsa Sharif district, said: ‘We have lost everything - our houses, our crops, cattle.’

The flooding has also affected the central Pakistani province of Punjab, where troops rescued more than 1,400 people trapped by rising water.

The threat of disease loomed as well as some evacuees in the northwest arrived in camps with fever, diarrhoea and skin problems.

‘There is now a real danger of the spread of waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, asthma, skin allergies and perhaps cholera in these areas,’ said Shaharyar Bangash, the head of operations in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa for World Vision, an international humanitarian group.

The flooding comes at a time when the Pakistani government is already grappling with a faltering economy and a war against the Taliban.

Residents of Swat were still trying to recover from a major battle between the army and the Taliban last spring that caused widespread destruction and drove some 2million people from their homes.

About 1 million of those are still displaced. Today residents stepped up their criticism of the government's lack of response to the disaster.

Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari visits Britain this week amid a storm of controversy over comments by Prime Minister David Cameron linking Pakistan to terrorism.

Sehar Ali, returning to his half-submerged house in the city of Nowshera, said: ‘My son drowned, but I don't see the government taking care of us. The government has not managed an alternate place to shift us.’

Source : kompas

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