Friday, August 6, 2010

Pakistan's flooding pushes south

The worst monsoon rains in 80 years are continuing to sweep from the north-west to south and central Pakistan.
Rivers in Sindh province, home to Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city and business hub, are bursting their banks.

Pakistani authorities have evacuated 500,000 people in 11 districts of Sindh and issued warnings to people in low-lying areas of the Indus river.

Flooding has submerged whole villages in the past week, killing about 1,600 people and affecting another 4.5m.

There is mounting anger at the absence of President Asif Ali Zardari, who is on a state visit to Britain to meet the UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

With flood victims bitterly accusing the authorities of failing to come to their aid, the disaster has piled yet more pressure on an administration struggling to contain Taliban violence and an economic crisis.

And the region is only midway through monsoon season, with more rain forecast.
A big wave of flood waters has been passing through Guddu barrage in the upper parts of Sindh and is headed down to Sukkur barrage, the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.

Electricity grid stations in the Punjab-Sindh region have been shut down to minimise chances of electrocution.

Officials say they are trying to move about one million people from the riverine region of Sindh.

Waters in the Punjab region are now receding but several new villages in the Jaffarabad area have been deluged since Thursday evening, our correspondent says.

Fresh downpours have also started in north-western Pakistan, adding to the misery of over two million people left homeless there by the floods.

About 1.4 million people have been displaced in Punjab, according to a UN spokesman.

Meanwhile, army helicopters have evacuated about 3,000 tourists stranded in the Kalam region of Swat district, which has been cut off after many bridges were washed away by flood waters.

No comments:

Post a Comment