re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Either way you look, Dam is a need. If one finger have a cancer, is it ok to wait and cut the whole hand or better to cure that one finger?
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Pakistan floods affect more than four million people: UN
Thursday, 05 Aug, 2010
Flood survivors wait for their turn to get food at a relief camp in Charsadda, near Peshawar, Aug 4, 2010. — AP Photo
WORLD
British charities launch Pakistan floods appeal
British charities launch Pakistan floods appeal
MEHMOOD KOT: The number of people hit by Pakistan’s worst floods in generations rose to four million on Thursday, as thousands waded through water or crammed into cars to escape drowning villages.
The United Nations rushed a top envoy to Pakistan to mobilise international support and address the urgent plight of millions affected by torrential monsoon rains across the volatile country that have killed around 1,500.
The disaster is now into its second week and the rains are spreading into Pakistan’s most populous provinces of Punjab and Sindh, as anger mounts against the government response after villages and farmland were washed away.
“Altogether, more than four million people are in a way or another affected,” said Manuel Bessler, who heads the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan.
“What we are facing now is a major catastrophe,” the UN official said in Islamabad.
Officials warned that dams could burst as heavy rain lashed the Punjab town of Kot Addu, transforming the area into a giant lake.
Army helicopters flew overhead as people streamed out of flooded villages searching for safer ground, an AFP reporter said.
“All these villages are dangerous now. We are evacuating the population,”said Manzoor Sarwar, police chief for Muzaffargarh district.
“Important installations are in danger. We have taken all possible steps to save people’s lives and important installations,” he said.
But victims lashed out at authorities for failing to come to their rescue and provide better relief, piling pressure on a cash-strapped administration straining to contain Taliban violence and an economic crisis.
“Everybody is leaving. We came out empty-handed. We didn’t have enough time to take our belongings,” Ghulam Mustafa, 26, told AFP in Mehmood Kot, a village about six hours’ drive south of Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
Houses, shops, petrol pumps and small villages were submerged. Villagers waded barefoot through water up to their necks and chests, carrying belongings on their heads, an AFP reporter said.
“There’s up to six feet of water in the city. All our stuff was destroyed. We saved only our children,” Sadaqat Ali, 28, a plumber from Kot Addu told AFP.
His 12-member family carried bags on their heads exhaustion and unhappiness etched on their faces. The children were barefoot.
“We weren’t warned the flood would hit our villages,” Allah Diwaya told AFP while manning a tea stall in Kot Addu.
“We weren’t expecting it. It was a sudden wave. Everything has been destroyed. Now we’re homeless,” he said.
Suhail Tipu, a senior administration official in the area, said that engineers had breached a flooded canal in two places to protect the Kot Addu power station, one of the country’s
biggest.
UN special envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert was on Thursday visiting affected areas in the northwest, where officials say there has been a lull in rainfall and water levels are receding.
The UN World Food Programme says 80 per cent of food reserves have been destroyed in the flooding and Pakistan’s meteorological department has issued new warnings of rain to come elsewhere.
In Sindh, authorities warned that major floods were expected on Saturday and Sunday in the fertile agricultural area of Katcha along the Indus river, saying 5,000 people had already been evacuated.
“We have prepared a plan to evacuate some 500,000 people,” provincial disaster management authority chief Sualeh Farooqi told AFP.
The number of affected districts in Punjab rose to seven and alert warnings were issued in five districts of Sindh to the south, the UN said.
“Water levels in Sindh are very high and there is a risk that if these levels continue to rise, it could pose serious threat to Sukkur Barrage,” said Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN coordination office.
Although Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said about 100,000 people have been rescued and “relief items in sufficient quantity” provided, many say they have received no assistance from the government, only from local families.
Particular scorn has been heaped on the deeply unpopular President Asif Ali Zardari for pressing ahead with visits to Paris and London at the height of the disaster.
An international relief campaign is stepping up including a 10-million-dollar aid package from the United States, Pakistan’s anti-terror ally. – AFP
If you want to follow news on your mobile, click on http://dawn.com/mobile/ and download Pakistan’s first mobile news application.
Tags: Pakistan floods UN
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
!re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Here is some update by Dunya Tv.
](http://javascript%3Cb%3E%3C/b%3E:window.mailpage%28%29) ](http://dunyanews.tv/print_news_eng.php?nid=15301&catid=&flag=d) **2010-08-07 03:17PM**
**
Guddu Barrage flooded; rains lash KP, Punjab again**
After ravaging Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the deluge enters Sindh as currently a huge flood tide of 9,62,000 cusecs is passing through Guddu Barrage, Dunya News reported on Saturday.
High flood is also reported at Sukkur Barrage which has submerged several villages in Ghotki. A red alert has been announced from Guddu Barrage to Sukkur and Dadu Moro Barrages; flood torrent has entered Goth Somro Malah at Jamshed loop embankment the loop embankments. Meanwhile, Army and Navy personnel are carrying out rescue activities, shifting those marooned to safer places. Larkana Cadet College has been closed for four days in view of the flood threat. In Shikarpur, hundreds of people have been stranded as 50 villages submerged in Kacha area; in Pannu Aqil, sround 5 villages inundated after breach in Masheero Canal.
** Rains hit KP again**
Once again, the merciless rains lashed Khyber Pakhtunkwa, triggering flash flood in the province and submerged CMH and Cantonment areas. Several houses destroyed in Skardu by landsliding resulted by lightning while flood torrent washed away a bridge in Akora Khatak. Dozens of people swept away as Chitral flooded after heavy rains while in Gilgit a 4 megawatts power plane has been wiped out. Flood tide in River Khanjrab swept away Shahra-e-Korakaram Bridge; a minor injured in a roof collapse in Aka Khel. A fresh spell of rains in Khyber Paktunkhwa inundated Nowshehra Chowni while gushing flood is roaring towards Sindh, Dunya News reported on Saturday.
In separate incidents, some six persons have been reportedly killed whereas several people have been trapped in Skardu landsliding.
** Punjab reeling under floodwater**
In Punjab, 4 people including a minor of a same family drowned in Son Miani while a body of a man has been found near Jampur. Floodwater took away around 50 cattle. An embankment has been breached in Rangpur, while a 30 feet wide breach emerged in Gaji Canal at Kahnpur Mehar submerging two villages. Floodwater swept away a man in Wazirabad and due to intense pressure of water Bhong Band area of Sadiqabad has been evacuated.
Meanwhile, people are being moving to safer places on their own as they complained that government relief has not reached them. A protest demonstration is held at Moza Nonari and Abadpur over government’s inability to commence relief activities. Moza Chak Veh, Kacha Gopang, Fatehpur Tiwana, Beat Mir Ahmed, Chak 49-NP, Rakh Kacha Chauhan, Kacha Sabzani, Kach Mahari, Dera Mushir, Mid Minthar, Rasul Pur, Beat Allah Wassaya, Muslim Abad and many other Mauzaat have been submerged besides communication to all the abovesaid areas has been cut off.
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Floods bring short term damages but they result in long term benefits. People living in the embankment of the River Indus in Sindh always pray for floods. At the moment they have to leave their homes but when water receeds they will come back. This new tide of water bring in fresh natural ingredients for their next crop - they will have a bumper crop of masoor in the coming months.
Look at this mini flood in Malir River in Karachi at Jam Kunda Check Dam, this make the people of area very happy as it raises the water levels for their wells and they can grow cash crops of vegetables and fruits!
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Are you even aware of the magnitude of this flood?
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
not sure if I agree with you here…seriously not floods on this scale with close to 15 million affectees. This is devastation on a massive sale
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
KB! I am talking about Sindh. The superflood of 1992 which casued widespread destruction in Kashmir and Punjab (resulted from 72 hours of continuous rains) passed away from Sindh without any considerable damage.
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
You can donate here
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YujqLU26zZQ&feature=player_embedded#!
re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Southern Pakistan Braces for More Floods Tomorrow; 13.8 Million Affected
By Khurrum Anis - Aug 10, 2010 4:36 AM ET
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Flood victims, escaping rising waters, scramble to alight a Pakistan Army helicopter during air rescue operations by the Pakistan Army on August 9, 2010 in the Muzaffargarh district in Punjab, Pakistan. Photographer: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
Floods in Pakistan, the nation’s deadliest on record, may sweep southern areas in the next 24 hours after leaving 1,500 people dead and submerging crops and hundreds of villages.
At least 2 million people urgently need shelter, according to the United Nations, which said the government estimates 13.8 million people have been uprooted, injured and financially affected by the disaster.
The flooding has become “Pakistan’s worst national disaster,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday. The floods have affected a greater number of people than those displaced in the 2005 Asian Tsunami and deadly earthquakes in South Asia and Haiti combined, the United Nations said in a statement from New York.
The Indus River at Kotri, in Sindh province of which Karachi is the capital, is likely to attain a “very high to exceptionally high” flood level ranging from 600,000 cubic feet a second to 800,000, the weather office said in a statement on its website. An exceptionally high flood is when there is imminent danger of breaching or high bank areas become inundated.
The barrage at Kotri is the last along the river’s length capable of holding back floodwaters. The districts of Hyderabad and Thatta, near Karachi, the country’s financial and business hub, may be inundated, the weather office warned.
Crops Damaged
Cotton, rice, sugarcane and maize crops have been damaged and fruit orchards have been washed away, putting at risk the government’s farm output growth target of 3.8 percent for the year that started July 1. Gilani told reporters that the destruction of roads, bridges and towns has set Pakistan’s economic development back by years.
The floods have destroyed 30 percent of the cotton crop, according to Khursheed Ahmed Khan Kanjo, president of the Pakistan Kissan Board, a farmers’ group. The government will miss its target of producing 14 million bales of cotton and may need to increase imports, he said.
Flooding also damaged 20 percent of the rice crop in Sindh, said Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president of the Sindh Abadgar Board. Half the red chilli and tomato plantations and 70 percent of the onion crop were also damaged.
The UN Children’s Fund is planning to deliver 4.2 million packets of oral rehydration salts and 2.1 million doses of zinc to children in Pakistan to prevent a potential outbreak of measles, the UN said.
Donor Pledges
Donors have so far provided $38.2 million to the UN and its partners and pledged a further $90.9 million, the world body said.
Floods have left many areas beyond outside help or communication, knocking out cell phone towers and ripping away roads. Thousands are without electricity after grid stations and transformers collapsed, Pakistani television reported.
Pakistan’s army is leading the relief effort, evacuating people, distributing drinking water and food and repairing bridges and roads, the military said in a statement on its website yesterday. Army field hospitals and medical camps have been set up and 930 boats and eight helicopters are being used in the rescue effort, it said.
The floods first struck the western province of Baluchistan on July 22 before inundating the worst-hit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and then entering Punjab and Sindh.
To contact the reporter on this story: Khurrum Anis in Karachi at [email protected].
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
May God bless and protect the people of Pakistan.
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
^ Thank you for the prayer Ohioguy, long time no see.
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
It's unfortunate that these circumstances brought me back. Blessings on those affected, their families and the dead. May they rise to heaven.
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
( so sad :hinna:
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
The main problem we see from here in Europe is that with a crook in power and leading the country it seems that all donnors are quite indiferent to the disaster that Pakistan is going through I for one, I have been working as a consulting engineer in Sindh province and has my military scorted experience when Zardari gangs we were shooting at foreigners while the late wife run the country.
I have given my part and may donate more however, it will be through a Islamic organization which has already aid workers in the ground and net linked to the government.
Regards
Eurodude
St.Etienne
Paris
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Your right Eurodude! But thats how democracy works in Pakistan and the West seem to like Zardari because he obeys their every command.
Re: Pakistan floods affected 13.8 Million: UN
Here are some flood photos :-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/sets/72157624520396139/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unhcr/sets/72157624715012686/
I have some questions:-
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Are there any areas which are still undrwater?
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Which areas have been mostly badly affected?