Pakistan races to help 15 million affected by ‘worst’ floods

SOOMRA PANHWARI, Pakistan, Aug 7, AFP Pakistan raced to evacuate families threatened with fresh floods on Saturday as heavy rains worsened the disaster in its second week, with up to 15 million people already affected.

Authorities in southern Sindh province have warned that a major deluge could hit impoverished river communities in the fertile basin, where they said up to three million people had already been affected and one million evacuated.

Torrential rains continued to hammer northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and helicopter services ferrying aid to some areas had to be suspended until the bad weather subsided.

Those uprooted from their homes in Sindh have been moved to temporary relief shelters in government buildings, schools and tents, but many families living in low-lying areas along the swollen Indus river were resisting evacuation.

“There are some areas where people are still reluctant to leave their homes and belongings. We are compelling them to evacuate because there is massive danger to their lives,” said irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.

“The water flow in some places along the river is exceptionally high and intermittent rains continue,” he added.Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appealed for immediate international help to cope with the country’s worst ever floods, which have already devastated provinces in the northwest and centre.

Countries including the US, Britain and China have pledged tens of millions of dollars in aid for victims of the nearly two-week-old disaster.

Floods across the largely impoverished, insurgency-hit country have swept away entire villages and killed at least 1,600 people, according to UN estimates.

Those marooned in Soomra Panhwari in southern Sindh faced a shortage of food and drinking water and authorities said their priority was shifting women and children to safety.