Pak floods: 60,000 people ordered to evacuate towns, cities

Pakistani authorities today ordered nearly 600,000 people to evacuate towns and cities in Sindh province as the swollen Indus river burst protective dykes and threatened further devastation after wreaking havoc in other parts of the country.

The administration ordered residents of Shahdadkot and nearby areas in Sindh to leave their homes this morning after waters submerged the streets of the city.

Announcements from mosques asked people to immediately flee the area and move to safer locations. Over 100,000 people were moved to safety from Shahdadkot.

Residents of Sujawal, Mirpur Bathoro, Liaqpur and Dharo towns too were warned to move to safer places due to an imminent threat of flooding.

The warning was issued after flood waters surged through a hundred-foot breach in a dyke at Sarjani village near Thatta and inundated several villages.

The Pakistan navy deployed 35 boats, two hovercraft and two helicopters for rescue missions. Army officials said they were focussing on evacuating people as it was impossible to plug the breach in the dyke at Sarjani.

Officials said flood waters were mounting pressure on a protective bund in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh village, where former premiers Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto are buried.

The Indus has swollen from its normal width of about 300 metres to almost 3.5 kilometres at Kotri in Sindh.

Officials said the river is likely to be at an "exceptionally high flood" level of about 940,000 cusecs at Kotri during the next 24 hours.

The water level in the Arabian Sea too is rising, forcing the Indus to flow back inland. This phenomenon could trigger flooding in Badin area of Sindh, officials said.

There were also reports of more deaths due to waterborne diseases from flood-hit areas of the impoverished Balochistan province.

Two children displaced by the floods died of gastroenteritis while 40 others were hospitalized in Dera Murad Jamali today.

A large number of flood victims living in relief camps in Dera Murad Jamali are suffering from cholera and gastro-enteritis.

Waterborne diseases in relief camps across Balochistan have added to the woes of flood victims.

Though some 2.5 million flood victims have been provided clean water by aid agencies, the UN said another 3.5 million have only contaminated water to drink.

The polluted water promotes transmission of diseases, said UN officials.

The UN plans to introduce large water purification systems. The flood waters have moved south after causing widespread destruction in the northwestern and central parts of the country.

Over 1,700 people have been killed and 20 million affected by the floods that were triggered by heavy monsoon rains which began in the last week of July.

The government and international aid agencies are straining to cope with Pakistan's worst humanitarian crisis that has affected a fifth of the country or an area the size of Britain.

The UN has sought 40 additional helicopters for relief missions as 800,000 flood victims are only accessible by air.

Amidst reports of the possible kidnapping of foreign aid workers by the Taliban, UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told the media that the world body faces such threats in other areas where it works.

The UN has security mechanisms in place and the threat "will not and must not stop humanitarian and life-saving operations", he said.

Giuliano acknowledged that the security concerns will add to the "colossal" problem of providing relief to millions of flood victims.

The UN and aid agencies are also facing the challenges of logistics and funding in delivering relief, he said.

President Asif Ali Zardari, criticised for travelling to Europe just after the flooding began, today called for faster disbursement of funds pledged by the world community so that Pakistan could begin rehabilitating flood victims at the earliest.

During a meeting with representatives of donor organizations and ambassadors of various countries, Zardari appreciated the international community's support to meet the challenge of the floods, which he described as a "slow motion tsunami".

However, he said the aid from the international community was only a short-term measure to control the prevailing situation.

A long-term remedy to address Pakistan's "stupendous loss" should include enhanced market access for Pakistani products, according preferential trade facilities, creating Reconstruction Opportunity Zones and more investments in the country, he said.