IN DEPTH | Flood in Pakistan

Relief effort

As the humanitarian disaster pushed into a second week, Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general

AFFECTED AREAS

Red: worst affected areas Yellow: moderately affected areas Striped: Evacuations underway

dispatched special envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert to help mobilise international support and address the victims' "urgent, immediate needs," a spokesman said.

Ripert, a former French ambassador to the UN, arrived in Pakistan on Thursday and will visit affected areas in the northwest and meet government officials.

The record rains triggered floods and landslides last week that devastated villages and farmland in some of the country's poorest and most volatile regions in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab provinces.

"We see urgent need of food assistance to people affected by floods to prevent a starvation-like situation," a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme warned.

"Eighty per cent of food reserves have been destroyed by the floods, which also caused massive damage to livestock, markets, roads and overall infrastructure," he said.

The United Nations has also said clean drinking water and sanitation are urgently needed to stop disease spreading among survivors.