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Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

Landslides have cut off large portions of Pakistan's Swat Valley and hampered efforts to help the 15 million people affected by Pakistan's worst flooding in decades.

Many roads and bridges have been washed away by the floodwaters, and heavy rains are preventing helicopters from taking off.

The United Nations has described the flooding, that has killed an estimated 1,600 people nationwide, as the worst natural disaster in years.


"This disaster is worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake," Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the C-oordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said.


"Those who need humanitarian assistance here are certainly more than those needing assistance in any of the other three disasters," Giuliano told Al Jazeera on Monday.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, visited Sindh province on Sunday and said that "millions of people have suffered, and still there is more rain, and further losses are feared".

"I appeal to the world to help us. We are doing what we can," he said.

"The government has done everything possible, but it is beyond our capacity, we are facing an extremely difficult situation."

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But residents in Swat, in northwestern Pakistan, have complained of worsening food and fuel shortages as the crisis drags on.

"There is no petrol in the pumps and no food in the shop," said Malik Amir Zada, a Swat resident, in a telephone interview with the AFP news agency.

"The government is doing nothing for us."

Rescue workers have rushed to evacuate thousands of families from the southern part of Sindh province, where floodwaters could burst the banks of the Indus river.

Food prices are expected to rise as the waters continue to swamp agricultural areas.

Pakistan's Express-Tribune newspaper reported "skyrocketing" fruit and vegetable prices on Sunday.
timeline
July 22: Floods first hit the western province of Balochistan, killing dozens.
July 27: Rains move north to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; death toll tops 1,000.
August 2: Waters hit Punjab, submerging homes and farms.
August 6: Floods move south again, towards Sindh province.

"Floods and rains have made these things unaffordable," one shopper in Lahore told the newspaper.

Millions of acres of crops have been destroyed in Punjab province, often called the "rice bowl" of Pakistan, and across the northwest.

The flooding has also caused extensive damage to Pakistan's electrical infrastructure, forcing power plants to shut down across the country.

Pakistan already suffers from a crippling electricity crisis, with hours-long blackouts a daily occurrence.

More than 252,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed across Pakistan, according to the government.

Pakistan's military said over the weekend that it has rescued more than 100,000 people from flooded areas.

'Zardari's Katrina'

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, is expected to return to the country on Monday or Tuesday after a visit to France and the United Kingdom.
FLOOD STATISTICS
1,600 killed
Four million left homeless
15 million displaced or affected
558,000 hectares of farmland underwater

The trip, at the height of the disaster, was criticised by many Pakistanis, who accused Zardari of mismanaging the crisis.

Fatima Bhutto, Zardari's estranged niece, called the flooding "Zardari's Katrina", a reference to George Bush's, the former US president, handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Many villagers have complained about a lack of basic services in relief camps established by the government and the Pakistani army.

The army has about 300,000 troops working on the relief effort, but some human rights activists are concerned that the military is undermining civilian institutions.

"Yes, it is the military's job to take care of the rescue, but the civil administration must be strengthened and properly organised," Hina Jilani, a Pakistani supreme court advocate, told Al Jazeera.

Jilani said that local communities need to play a larger role in the response.
 
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Pakistan floods: aerial pictures from army helicopters show the extent of the flooding

Pakistan floods: aerial pictures from army helicopters show the extent of the flooding - Telegraph

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Pictures taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite shows the same area captured on August 8, 2010 (top), and July 18, 2010 (bottom). The images show the lower Indus River, not far from Pakistan's coast. Both images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land


Picture: AFP/NASA
 
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Sri Lanka Air Force delivers aid to Pakistan flood victims
Aug 09, Colombo: Sri Lanka Air Force C-130 loaded with 18 metric tons of aid to Pakistan flood victims took off from the Air Force Base at Ratmalana in the early hours of Sunday (08) the government announced.

The C-130 aircraft with a seven-member crew, carrying dry rations of rice, sugar, lentils and tea worth over Rs.3 million, left for Islamabad yesterday.

Lanka Sathosa has delivered all the food aid to th e Air Force and the Air Force has handled all the logistics of the operation to deliver the aid to the victims of recent floods in Pakistan.

This initiative of humanitarian assistance was implemented under the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa through the Ministry of External Affairs. It comes in view of the close bilateral ties between Pakistan and Sri Lanka, the government said.

The worst floods in Pakistan since 1929 have killed over 1,600 people and left over 15 million people requiring emergency assistance.
 
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RAF flies tents to Pakistan in flood aid effort

A Royal Air Force C17 aircraft based at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire has been deployed to fly 500 tents from Dubai to flood-hit Pakistan.

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The RAF is helping with the aid effort in the country, where severe flooding has affected millions of people.

The tents have been flown to Islamabad, from where they will be driven to the Peshawar region.

The tents, provided by the Department for International Development (DFID), will provide shelter for 2,500 people.

The region's worst floods for 80 years have killed at least 1,600 people.

'Vital mission'

The tents can be erected within half an hour and are designed to withstand extremely heavy rainfall and cold conditions.


Areas already devastated by flooding are set for more rain The C17 is the RAF's largest transport aircraft capable of carrying 73,800kg of freight and 138 personnel.

It has already been operating every day in the region providing logistic support, ferrying supplies and personnel to UK forces in Afghanistan.

Wing Cdr Simon Edwards, from 99 Squadron, said: "I am pleased that [we] have been able to help in this important task... in support of the vital humanitarian mission to Pakistan."

George Turkington, DFID's head of the Pakistan office, said: "These 500 tents, along with the 2,000 we've already provided, will give urgently needed shelter to thousands of people whose homes have been washed away by the monsoon floods."
 
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UN: Pakistan flood misery exceeds tsunami, Haiti

ISLAMABAD – The number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan exceeds 13 million — more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations said Monday.

The death toll in each of those three disasters was much higher than the 1,500 people killed so far in the floods that first hit Pakistan two weeks ago. But the U.N. estimates that 13.8 million people have been affected — over 2 million more than the other disasters combined.

The comparison helps frame the scale of the crisis, which the prime minister said Monday was the worst in Pakistan's history. It has overwhelmed the government, generating widespread anger from flood victims who have complained that aid is not reaching them quickly enough or at all.
"The number of people affected by the floods is greater than the other three disasters combined," Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Associated Press.
A person is considered affected by the floods if he or she will need some form of assistance to recover, either short-term humanitarian aid or longer-term reconstruction help, said Giuliano.

The total number of people affected in the three other disasters was about 11 million — 5 million in the tsunami and 3 million in each of the earthquakes — said Giuliano.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Monday that the floods were a bigger crisis than the 2005 Kashmir earthquake that killed nearly 80,000 people and the army's operation against the Taliban in the Swat Valley last spring that drove more than 2 million people from their homes.
"The magnitude of the tragedy is so immense that it is hard to assess," said Gilani during a visit to the central Pakistani city of Multan.

A faltering relief effort could open the door to hard-line Islamist groups, which have already been delivering aid in the northwest.

UN: Pakistan flood misery exceeds tsunami, Haiti - Yahoo! News

I knew the floods were pretty bad, but this article really made me realize how bad the situation really is. I mean more people affected than the 2004 Tsunami is crazy. And with Ramadan starting in 2 days, it's gonna be even worse.

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May Allah have mercy on them!
 
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Maybe I'm just responding to hype, but I wonder if people here have truly realized the enormity of the disaster that has happened, is happening now, and will happen in the future. The Army may be doing all it can with all it's will but so many people are affected that it is not enough. The flood reached Sukkar; what happens when it hits Hyderabad? And will the dams protecting Karachi be threatened? How will Pakistan keep millions of people from dying of hunger, thirst, and exposure to the elements?

Helicopters can't deliver tens of thousands of tons of aid, nor evacuate millions of people. For the four to eight million people displaced expected to be displaced that's something like two hundred thousand aid workers - far more than the supply of willing and able foreigners. Pakistan will need convoys of ships bearing relief supplies and convoys of trucks spearheaded by construction equipment to repair vital roads and installations. Foreign aid money can't help if services can't be delivered. In theory the P.A. could supply the manpower, but apparently they can't handle a disaster of this scale; so civilians must join the effort, or even make their own independent efforts; certainly their material aid will be necessary.
 
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Seven hundred and fifty thousand souls on the move

MUZAFFARGARH: Over 750,000 people found themselves at the mercy of nature when the administration ordered evacuation of Muzaffargarh town hours before daybreak on Monday as waters from the swollen Indus and Chenab rivers threatened to overwhelm the region.

Scenes reminiscent of 1947 started playing themselves out after the announcement threw the populace into an unknown fear.

The announcement from mosques at 4am left speechless 400,000 residents of Muzaffargarh city, and the nearly 350,000 people who had taken refuge here after furious rivers had ripped homes from their foundations in small towns and villages nearby.

Soon the people started leaving for Multan, the only link intact after the closures of roads leading to Layyah and Dera Ghazi Khan.

There were not enough vehicles for such a massive exodus. The Multan-Muzaffargarh road soon clogged with all sorts of conveyances ranging from buses and trucks to horse- and donkey-driven contraptions.

And predictably enough, transporters felt no qualms about cashing in on the helplessness of the multitude.

Long queues of vehicles were seen at CNG stations because the closure of Parco had caused a severe shortage of petrol and diesel.

Saleem Qureshi, who was in charge of a relief camp at Workers Welfare School, said over 8,000 people had taken shelter in the camp over the past two days after waters surged into Kot Addu, Sanwan, Gurmani and Qasba Gujrat.

Around 3,500 people had refused to leave the camp as most of them were penniless by now. Some of them said they would prefer to shelter on roofs, and even trees, rather than risk another displacement.

One distressed person, Ghulam Abbas from Kot Addu, said “we would prefer to die because we simply cannot afford another displacement”.

“When floods hit Kot Addu on Aug 2, we moved to Sanawan. After 24 hours we had to leave that town. Later we moved to Mahmood Kot to our relatives. But on Aug 4, we had to leave Mahmood Kot when a breach in Muzaffargarh canal made us homeless. “We will not move any further.”

Since there were not enough vehicles to carry those willing to leave, some people mustered the courage to get in touch with the Minister of state for Economic Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar. They suggested to her to arrange a shuttle train between Multan and Muzaffargarh.

Ms Khar obliged them. A shuttle started running between the two points after every two hours. Much to the disappointment of the people who reached Multan, there were no relief camps for them. After some time, however, the army, the district government, PAF and other agencies swung into action and set up shelters.

FLOODS: Irrigation officials said that water level in Chenab river swelled on Monday and floods were likely to hit the city any time.

Because of a flood wave from the Chenab river and breaches in Tulahiry Canal water was heading towards the city after inundating Muradabad, Langar Sari and Basti Bhutta.

Thousands of people had to leave their homes in union councils of Budh, Baseera, Wan Pittafi and Gul Wala aftera breach in the Muzaffargarh canal, near Nusrat Wala, flooded thousands of acres and demolished hundreds of houses.

The Muzaffargarh thermal power plant was also in danger and its staff colony had been evacuated. Experts fear if any harm comes to this plant, the country will face a grave power shortage.

A bridge on the Chenab remained closed for many hours when a large number of vehicles from Muzaffargarh tried to cross it at a time.

In headquarters city areas most banks and ATM machines were closed. Hundred people rushed to banks to draw the money but failed.

This correspondent saw hundreds of families sitting on bypass road near river Chenab. In DHQ hospital hundreds patients ran for safety when they learnt about the flood.

DHQ Medical Superintendent Dr Ashiq Malik said that about 197 patients were there but after red alert one over a hundred ran away and the remaining had been shifted to Nishtar hospital, Multan.

DCO Farasat Iqbal said that district government was trying to save lives and moving affected people to safe places.
 
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All the world's ills in one country


Sat on a riverbank in Sukkur, Sindh province - actually it's a hill but because of the flooding it feels like a riverbank - I get a chance to reflect on the state of Pakistan.

All around me I can see water. Villagers use boats to ferry what belongings have been salvaged.

Tiny trucks are loaded in the blazing heat as chickens roam free.

Pakistan really does have it all. And, no that's not a tourist board slogan.

All the world's ills in one country.

War, natural disaster, political intrigue, military dictatorship, economic failure, fuel shortages, civil unrest, ethnic tension and illiteracy have all befallen this country at one point or another in the last five years. In many cases, it's been a mixture of a few of them all at one time.

My driver's name in Sukkur is Bakhtar. A young man with curly hair and a moustache, he drives a colourful minivan.

We stand and talk as wooden beds are loaded onto his tiny truck.

"This is God's work. I don't know what we have done. But our country suffers like no other."

He takes a drag on his cigarette and continues.

"Bhai, (brother) look. My life is one hardship after another. No money, no home, no life ... and that was before the floods! What happens now is simply beyond me."

Crisis to crisis

He is typical of the many in Pakistan. Poor, ill-educated and with little prospects.

There are 170 million people in this country. I would hazard a guess that very few of them have not been touched in some way or another by some crisis or another.

The very rich can isolate themselves, but they are not immune. The very poor just push on, with God in their hearts.

That this country lurches from crisis to crisis has not escaped international attention. What to do about that though, well that's a different matter.

The Americans think a mixture of carrots - in the form of economic aid, and a stick - drone strikes - are one solution. The EU agrees.

But Bakhtar knows nothing of international politics.

"America, how can it help me? I am a small man. The rich get richer and I slowly die every day whilst no one notices."

He might be wrong there. The world's attention is focused on Pakistan right now.

But is it focused on Bakhtar and the millions like him?

I don't know. In the lobby of the rundown hotel I call home in Sukkur, journalists and aid workers congregate, swapping stories of woe.

A UN worker notices us putting together a report on Sukkur's flood victims. As he glances at the edit on the computer screen he says, "Good. Make the bastards part with their money".

To solve the flooding will take money, but solving the rest of the ills in this country, well that's another matter. Just which problem do you start with?

Pakistan really does have it all.

One day I will be able to write about the beaches, the snow-capped mountains, the rivers so clear you see the fish dart through the rock formations, the hills and valleys.

Pakistan really does have it all.


All the world's ills in one country | Al Jazeera Blogs
 
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GHAZI, Pakistan, Aug 10, 2010 (AFP) - For US combat pilots in Afghanistan, there are two reasons to visit Pakistan: to help provide aid to the millions affected by devastating floods, and to improve America's image.

The White House said that US helicopters have helped to save more than 1,000 lives in Pakistan. Washington has provided 35 million dollars in aid, including 436,000 halal meals and 12 pre-fabricated bridges.

"The primary focus of our mission is to provide food to people," Major Daniel Rice, commanding officer of the US aviation fleet in Pakistan, told AFP.

Asked whether it would help remove misunderstandings about the United States in Pakistan, he said: "I certainly hope so."

"We are learning from each other every day... We are talking about each other's families as we deal together with the calamity here," Rice added.


After being grounded because of bad weather, helicopters flew sorties on Monday evacuating people and bringing food supplies to Swat.

"We are here to help people of Pakistan... Pilots have come back saying they saw lots of smiles, waving of hands and thumbs up while delivering supplies and shifting people to safer areas... and that is a good sign," said Rice.

The United States has sent four Chinooks and two Blackhawks to Pakistan, which fly with a representative of the Pakistani military on board.

It is the second time since the 2005 earthquake, which killed more than 73,000 people and left around 3.5 million homeless, that the US government has sent helicopters to Pakistan for relief operations.

Authorities in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have warmly welcomed the US assistance.

"Floods have devastated the communications system in our province. US helicopters, in this crisis situation, have become a backbone in the relief operations," information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told AFP.

The lounge near the base's apron hummed with activity as pilots of the Pakistani and US armies sat together, exchanging pleasantries and gulping tea and coffee as it rained intermittently, with low visibility outside.

"Let people of Pakistan decide about our image as we deliver supplies and carry people from flood-affected areas," said US pilot George Kelly, adding that "very poor" weather was one of the main challenges.

Kelly said he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the Swat valley, calling the former trouble spot "probably the prettiest place I have ever come to".

The army has provided separate lodging to over 90 US military officials, who are closely in touch with air traffic for minute-to-minute weather updates.

"(The) Pakistan army offers a world class facility at the base and we received excellent support. We are really impressed to see the hospitality of our hosts," said a US army Major Marc Geeting.

Sergeant Curtis Hissong was equally upbeat. "It gives us satisfaction to deliver food supplies to Pakistanis stranded in different areas.

"The biggest challenge for us is weather, and we are overcoming it as best as we can," Hissong said.
 
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Timeline
July 22: Floods first hit the western province of Balochistan, killing dozens.
July 27: Rains move north to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; death toll tops 1,000.
August 2: Waters hit Punjab, submerging homes and farms.
August 6: Floods move south again, towards Sindh province.



FLOOD STATISTICS
1,600 killed
Four million left homeless
15 million displaced or affected
558,000 hectares of farmland underwater
 
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Maybe I'm just responding to hype, but I wonder if people here have truly realized the enormity of the disaster that has happened, is happening now, and will happen in the future. The Army may be doing all it can with all it's will but so many people are affected that it is not enough. The flood reached Sukkar; what happens when it hits Hyderabad? And will the dams protecting Karachi be threatened? How will Pakistan keep millions of people from dying of hunger, thirst, and exposure to the elements?

Helicopters can't deliver tens of thousands of tons of aid, nor evacuate millions of people. For the four to eight million people displaced expected to be displaced that's something like two hundred thousand aid workers - far more than the supply of willing and able foreigners. Pakistan will need convoys of ships bearing relief supplies and convoys of trucks spearheaded by construction equipment to repair vital roads and installations. Foreign aid money can't help if services can't be delivered. In theory the P.A. could supply the manpower, but apparently they can't handle a disaster of this scale; so civilians must join the effort, or even make their own independent efforts; certainly their material aid will be necessary.

Civilians are already doing all they can, go read some blogs on facebook under Mission Rescue Pakistan or Safe Secure Pakistan, the rotary and lions clubs of Pakistan have also donated a lot of material.

Last night my family informed me that 13 trucks left Islamabad and Karachi packed full of aid supplies including food,water and NFI: Non Food Items. 7 have been earmarked and will be handed over to the Sindh response the remaining from Islamabad will be heading to the KP.

A Charity in the UK run by Pakistanis is planning an intervention to cope with just what your saying the "secondary"effects of the disaster" which will require months of work.

Also i hope that people can understand and respect that Pakistani citizens too have faced a recession, job cuts, pay cuts, increases in utility tariff, food costs etc... They are not immune to the global market and there is genuine donor fatigue.

Now this comes during ramadam, when prices of commodities naturally go up dramatically and supply of sugar especially and wheat is short.

It will be a test for the entire nation.
 
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