NEW FLOOD WARNINGS RAISE FEARS IN PAKISTAN

[The United Nations has estimated that at least one-fifth of the country is underwater, but the scope of damage seems far greater. About 14 million people have been affected by the floods, and 6 million of them are children, according to the United Nations children’s organization, usually known as Unicef. Estimates of the dead have ranged between 1,200 and 1,600]

 

By SALMAN MASOOD and KEVIN DREW

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan issued new flood warnings on Thursday that could last into the weekend as government and relief agencies scrambled to confront the toll from a growing humanitarian disaster.

The new warnings to several cities in Punjab and Sindh Provinces added to the desperation of survivors across the country facing a daily struggle for survival as Muslims around the world began to mark the holy month of Ramadan.

President Asif Ali Zardari, who came under stinging criticism for making a trip to Europe as the flood disaster unfolded, made his first tour of flood-hit areas on Thursday since his return to the country this week, beginning with Sukkur in Sindh Province, news reports said.

The United States Embassy in Islamabad announced that two Marine helicopters had arrived in the country, the first of a contingent of 19 American military choppers that has been ordered to assist the Pakistani government in relief efforts. The United States has pledged $71 million for flood relief, and American officials have called for more.

“Americans have been very focused on other, equally heart-wrenching, issues, like Haiti,” Richard C. Holbrooke, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Wednesday at the Council of Foreign Relations. “I hope they will turn their attention as well to this extraordinary crisis that Pakistan is facing.”

The aid deliveries could help the United States improve its image here and blunt a growing anti-American sentiment. The Taliban have already urged the Pakistanis to shun American aid and have used the current crisis to expand their influence and outreach in the flood-affected areas of the northwest.

The United Nations has estimated that at least one-fifth of the country is underwater, but the scope of damage seems far greater. About 14 million people have been affected by the floods, and 6 million of them are children, according to the United Nations children’s organization, usually known as Unicef. Estimates of the dead have ranged between 1,200 and 1,600.

Beyond the daily rising toll of dead, displaced and starving, experts assessing the crisis said much remained to be learned of the short-term relief needs and the longer-term economic challenges that Pakistan faced from the floods.

Entire villages and towns remain underwater. Conventional travel around Pakistan has been disrupted with roads washed away.

“It’s very difficult because we have not been able to access all areas,” said Irshad Shaikh, an expert on such crises with the World Health Organization. “To be frank, we do not yet have a countrywide picture” of the aid need.

On Thursday, flood alerts went out to several cities in Punjab and Sindh. The city of Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab Province looked like a ghost town after more than 80 percent of its population left because of flooding fears. Hundreds of residents moved to makeshift encampments along a road to the city of Multan.

One resident, Muhammad Farooq, said he chose to remain in Muzaffargarh to protect his house from theft while his family moved to Multan.

“We are helpless and praying to God that our city is saved, as the threat is still there from the River Chenab,” he said.

About 400,000 people had been evacuated in Muzaffargarh and outlying areas, said Suhail Tipu, a government official coordinating the relief and rescue operation. Dozens of villages and towns in the area were flooded by waters from the Indus River, he said.

In Sindh Province, local officials braced for floodwaters threatening to inundate the city of Jacobabad on Thursday night, said Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, chairman of Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Sindh. Another 300,000 people had to be evacuated from the Kashmore District in Sindh, he said.

“There are 450 relief camps across Sindh,” Mr. Pasha said. “We are providing cooked meals. The biggest problem is that most of the people don’t want to go to relief camps. They have tribal enmities and cultural sensitivities.”

Across Pakistan, relief workers have made priorities of such needs such as food, water and shelter, while health workers focus on preventing diseases. The government and relief agencies are sending emergency tents, mosquito nets, food, water-purifying tablets and cholera prevention kits.

Dr. Shaikh of the World Health Organization said health risks included diarrhea and skin and respiratory infection, while immunization efforts have begun against measles and polio.

Although it is too early to determine how Pakistan’s economy will be affected, early reports appear grim. Citing agricultural officials, Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday that about 500,000 tons of wheat had been destroyed by the floods. Additionally, as many as two million bales of cotton were lost, the newspaper reported.

At the request of Pakistan’s government, the World Bank has joined with other agencies such as the Asian Development Bank to assess the damage to the country’s economy, said Shahzad Sharjeel of the World Bank office in Islamabad.

The assessment period may take another week or two, Mr. Sharjeel said, adding that the World Bank already has provided $1.3 million in emergency grants.

Flooding began on July 22 in the province of Baluchistan. The swollen waters then poured across the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in the northwest before flowing south into Punjab and Sindh. The United Nations earlier this week appealed for $460 million in emergency aid. The appeal came after donors had already pledged an estimated $150 million.

“The magnitude of this crisis is unprecedented” in Pakistan, said Dr. Shaikh. Many people who depend on the land and animals for survival have had their livelihoods simply washed away, he said.

After the Kashmir earthquake in 2005, relief workers had access to some resources.

“Here, everything is gone. Crops, livestock, homes, communities,” Dr. Shaikh said. “There is nothing for people to fall back on.”

Salman Masood reported from Islamabad and Kevin Drew from Hong Kong. Waqar Gillani contributed reporting from Punjab Province, Pakistan.

 @ The New York Times