Recent Floods Push Pakistan 50 Years Back In History

Aug. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- Fl,USA............................. The scale and cost of the flooding disaster in Pakistan, rated by as the the worst devastation he has ever seen, look set to worsen even further. More heavy rain is forecast for the Punjab and a fresh flood wave is head south down the Indus River. The number of people affected by catastrophic floods in Pakistan may outnumber those suffering from the recent major natural disasters -- the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 South Asia earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations said here on Monday.

"The number of people affected by Pakistan's floods is now estimated to be 13.8 million, according to the government of Pakistan," said a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province is the worst hit. Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told Pakistani media more than 1,000 people had been killed and the toll could be even higher. "Virtually no bridge has been left in Swat. All major and minor bridges have gone, destroyed completely," He said. Now the flood water is playing large-scale havoc in other provinces of Pakistan rendering millions more homeless and without any food or shelter.

"There is now a real danger of the spread of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea, asthma, skin allergies and perhaps cholera in these areas," Shaharyar Bangash, World Vision Pakistan's programmes manager, said in a statement.

The economy of the country is already suffering heavily due to its active participation in war against terror. Recent floods have given a heavy blow to the economy and there is a need of billions of dollars for the country to help people re-build their destroyed homes. The task of rehabilitation is very mammoth in nature and it can only be completed successfully if the world community helps Pakistan very generously otherwise there will be large scale casualities in the country and the war against terror can doom to failure in Pakistan. World charity organizations can contact the local Pakistan embassy in their country to ask for the requiremenst of the people in Pakistan.