Death toll over 400 in pakistan's recent floods

[Hindustani]

by Jamil Bhatti

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's recent torrential floods, triggered by heavy monsoon rains in different parts of the country, killed at least 412 people and injured 1,172 others besides affecting over 8.2 million more, the National Disastrous Management Authority (NDMA) told Xinhua Saturday evening.

The floods caused damage to an area of 7.987 million acres and swept away standing cash crops in the whole affected areas of the two provinces Sindh and Balochistan, NDMA spokesman Ahmad Kamal said on Saturday evening.

At least 389 people, including 209 men, 93 females and 87 children, were killed and 745 were injured in the country's southern province of Sindh while floods killed 23 and injured 427 others in southwestern province of Balochistan.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund ( UNICEF) revealed that 2.7 million children are among the affected flood victims and have been facing many challenges.

According to NDMA, floods have affected about 41,334 villages in all the 23 districts of the Sindh province and completely damaged a total of 630,457 houses while another 848,412 houses have suffered partial damage.

More than 87,608 livestock have been perished by floods in Sindh while crops like cotton, banana, dates, chili and sugarcane on 2,800,000 acres have been destroyed or severely affected.

The first spell of rain started on Aug. 11 mainly affected seven districts of Sindh province, while an ongoing second spell has hit the entire province, including provincial metropolis Karachi, the business hub of Pakistan.

According to officials of the Meteorological Department of Pakistan, during the four weeks of August and September, rains in Sindh province were the highest ever recorded monsoon heavy rains.

NDMA official told that an estimated 709,452 people have been living in some 3,342 makeshift temporary relief camps, including schools and public buildings, across the Sindh.

Some 8.2 million people in different districts of the province have been affected by the floods and thousands of them are camped out on higher ground or on roadsides.

Pakistan Army has also been taking part in rescue and relief operation in the flood hit regions and so far rescued more than one hundred thousand people along with their cattle from various water inundated areas besides providing them with shelters and food.

Pakistan Navy teams are also busy in rescue work in the flood affected areas and evacuated thousands of people.

An international NGO "Save the Children" warned that the lives of two million flood hit Pakistanis, over half of them children, are at severe risk from diseases as devastating flooding continues in Sindh.

The humanitarian organization, in a press note on Saturday, said as rains continue, children in flood-hit areas encounter the increased risk of malaria, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases.

"This is a desperately serious situation. The lives of children are at risk from both malaria and new flood waters contaminated by the sewage. At several camps, hundreds of people are sharing a single toilet," said David Wright, the organization's country director in Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who canceled his visit to the United States to address the UN General Assembly due to the floods, visited the floods-hit areas of the Sindh province.

In response to the appeal for flood victims by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, China came up with the supply of relief goods worth 4.7 millions U.S. dollars, Iran announced 100 million U.S. dollar aid, Japan 450,000 U.S. dollars and South Korea 200,000 U.S. dollars worth emergency relief goods including tents, water purifiers and medicines.

The European Commission announced 10 million euros for emergency relief and donations by German people also increased to over 210 million U.S. dollars while the Red Cross Society of China donated 50,000 U.S. dollars in cash as an emergency aid.

The UN-led humanitarian community in Pakistan sought 337 million U.S. dollars from donor countries for an emergency response plan to support the Pakistani government to deal with the needs of flood-affected families.

According to the statement by the State Department, the United States has sent food and medical aid to Pakistan for the hundreds of thousands of people affected by torrential rains.

State Dept. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that food package was targeted at nearly 350,000 people, while Washington hoped that the medical assistance could reach about 500,000 Pakistanis.

On the other hand, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally called on the international community to step foreword to respond to the humanitarian needs of flood victims in Pakistan.

In 2010, Pakistan was hit by the worst floods in the last 80 years of history of the region. More than 2,000 people were killed while estimates by the international institutions said that the damage to infrastructure could be around 15 billion U.S. dollars. The floods left 20 million survivors homeless and destroyed crops at over more than 7.9 million acres besides leaving 200,000 livestock dead.

Editor: Yamei Wang

Death toll over 400 in Pakistan's recent floods