UN says floods affect 1 million Pakistanis

Islamabad: Nearly a million people have been affected and hundreds killed by severe floods caused by torrential rains over the past three days in north-western Pakistan, a UN agency said Saturday.

The death toll in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has gone up to 400, provincial authorities said. The flooding caused by record-breaking rainfalls caused massive destruction in the past week, especially in the northwest province, where officials said it was the worst deluge since 1929.

Several hundred people have also been injured in the flooding which has caused major damage to infrastructure, including roads and at least 45 bridges, as wells as thousands of homes.

In pictures: Floods in Pakistan

Search and rescue is the current priority, but authorities have also requested assistance in emergency shelter and food, as well as drinking water and sanitation facilities, the UN agency said.

In the Nowshera area in the northwest, scores of men, women and children sat on roofs in hopes of air or boat rescues. "There are very bad conditions," said Amjad Ali, a rescue worker in the area. "They have no water, no food."

A doctor treating evacuees at a small relief camp in Nowshera said some had diarrhoea and others had marks appearing on their skin, causing itching. Children and the elderly seemed to have the most problems, Mahmoud Jaa said.

"Due to the floodwater, they now have pain in their bodies and they are suffering from fever and cough," Jaa told The Associated Press.

In Charsadda, Nabi Gul, who estimated he was around 70 years old, stood shaken at the site of what was once his house now turned into rubble.

"I built this house with my life's earnings and hard work, and the river has washed it away," he said in a trembling voice. "Now I wonder, will I be able to rebuild it? And in this time, when there are such great price hikes?"

Rescuers used army helicopters, heavy trucks and boats to reach flood-hit areas, the UN said. It reported that thousands of homes and roads were destroyed, and at least 45 bridges across the northwest were damaged.

The destruction is slowing the rescue effort, said Lutfur Rahman, a government official in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, the northwest province.

"Our priority is to transport flood-affected people to safer places. We are carrying out this rescue operation despite limited resources," he said, adding they needed more helicopters and boats.

Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, the head of the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said that no more rain was expected in the next few days for the northwest and that floodwaters there were receding.

But Punjab province in the east, Sindh province in the south, and Pakistan's side of the disputed Kashmir region all could expect a lashing over the next three or four days, he said.

The Pakistan government is leading the relief efforts, with support from the armed forces and authorities in affected provinces, it said.

An important humanitarian warehouse complex at Pirpai in the province was flooded, making it difficult to move relief supplies to affected areas. In Swat district, the Swat River has washed away most of the bridges along with shops, hotels and private homes.

Securing access

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported it stands ready to provide additional food rations once the access to its hub is secured.

The UN World Health Organisation (WHO) provided medical kits to the Department of Health in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and has established an emergency health response unit in the provincial capital, Peshawar.

The UN Children's Fund (Unicef) and its partners have set up nine medical camps in Swat and are providing medicines, water treatment tablets and jerry cans.

The fund is also supporting the local authorities in providing clean drinking water.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has dispatched the first consignment of relief items to assist flood-affected districts in southwestern Balochistan province, particularly Sibi, where a more detailed assessment is planned over the weekend.

Amid forecast of further heavier rain, the country's rivers, including the Indus, Jhelum, Swat and Kabul, are already flowing at dangerously high levels.

The southern Sindh province has already issued a state of emergency and evacuation has already started, according to an official announcement.

Meanwhile, precautionary evacuations are reported to be under way in vulnerable areas of Punjab province as well.

With inputs from AP