Shelter top priority for 2.2 million Pakistani flood victims
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Shelter top priority for 2.2 million Pakistani flood victims*
13 Jul 2007 12:13:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Faisal Aziz
ISLAMABAD, July 13 (Reuters) - Pakistani relief workers are setting up
camps to provide shelter to thousands of people forced from their homes
in severe flooding across the south of the country, a relief official
said on Friday.
More than 2.2 million people have been affected in 6,400 villages of
Sindh and Baluchistan provinces as a result of early rainy-season storms
and flooding, said Farooq Ahmad Khan, chairman of the National Disaster
Management Authority.
The harsh weather, which has also affected Afghanistan and India, has
killed 280 people in the two provinces, while 186 are missing, Khan told
reporters.
Last month, about 230 people were killed in the southern city of Karachi
in three days of heavy rain and ferocious wind.
"Our top priority is the provision of shelter to the affected," Khan said.
"We are setting up hundreds of camps. Those who have no roof over their
heads should at least have canvas," he said.
Huge swathes of the south have been inundated, initially by a cyclone
that dumped torrential rain across the region, then by swollen rivers
flowing down from the north.
Food and clean water, medicines, as well as measures to avert outbreak
of epidemics were other priorities, Khan said.
The military is helping organise relief works, and C-130 cargo aircraft
and helicopters have carried out hundreds of sorties, dropping hundreds
of tonnes of food and medicines.
Khan said the situation was improving with rivers flowing at normal
levels and no extreme weather expected.
"Our main reservoirs, the Tarbela and Mangla dams, are also well below
their maximum capacity, and hence can store more water," he said.
The damage assessment was likely to take another six weeks. Foreign
assistance worth $6.2 million has already been pledged for relief work.
The seasonal rain is vital for the region's agriculture and economy. It
also brings welcome relief after many hot, dry months but every year the
rains kill hundreds of people.