Fresh flooding submerges Pakistan towns
About 150,000 Pakistanis were forced to move to higher ground as floodwaters from a freshly swollen Indus River submerged dozens more towns and villages in the south, a government spokesman said today.
Officials expect the floodwaters will recede nationwide in the next few days as the last river torrents empty into the Arabian Sea. Survivors may find little left when they return home as houses, roads, bridges and crops have been washed away.
Already, 600,000 people are in relief camps set up in Sindh during the flooding over the past month.
“We evacuated more than 150,000 people from interior parts of Sindh in the past 24 hours,” said Jamil Soomro, a spokesman for the provincial government. The floods submerged new areas in Thatta district.
At a relief camp in the Sukkur area, some victims said it was difficult to get the food dropped off by relief lorries.
“I am a widow, and my children are too young to get food because of the chaos and rush,” said Parveen Roshan. “How can weak women win a fight with men to get food?”
Nearby, a doctor treated a boy whose back was injured after someone pushed him during a scramble for food.
The floods have affected about one-fifth of Pakistan’s territory, straining its civilian government as it also struggles against al Qaida and Taliban violence. At least 6 million people have been made homeless and 20 million affected overall. The economic cost is expected to run into billions.
The United Nations has appealed for $460m (€361m) in emergency assistance, and the US has promised $150m (€118m). Pakistan said it would even accept $4.65m (€3.65m) in aid from India, its arch rival.
The floods began in late July in the north-west of the country after exceptionally heavy monsoon rains, expanding rivers that have since swamped eastern Punjab province and Sindh province in the south.
Aid groups have been trying to help the government in its relief effort by providing food, medicine, shelter and other crucial assistance. Poor weather and the destruction of roads and bridges have hindered the distribution.
The United Nations said it needs at least 40 more helicopters to reach the large number of people cut off by the flooding.
“We need more of these lifesavers,” said the World Food Programme’s Pakistan country director, Wolfgang Herbinger.
Meanwhile, a bomb exploded at a checkpoint jointly manned by pro-government tribesmen and police in north-western Pakistan today, killing six people, government official Javed Khan said.
The attack happened in Mohmand, a tribal region 45 miles north-west of Peshawar. The dead included a policeman, a passer-by and four members of a peace committee set up to check militant movements, he said.
The bombing underscored the fear that militants are still active and posed a challenge to the government, which has carried out operations to flush Taliban and their supporters from the region.
