ISLAMABAD – The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than three million people, a UN spokesman said yesterday, while outrage over the unpopular government’s response to its people’s plight spreads.
The catastrophe, which started almost a week ago and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected. A breakout of water-borne diseases such as cholera could create a health crisis.
The disaster has also, once again, called into question the leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari, already hampered by problems ranging from a stubborn Taliban insurgency and widespread poverty to chronic power cuts in the nuclear-armed US ally.
Pakistan’s civilian governments have long been perceived as riddled by corruption and largely ineffective, leaving the powerful military to step in during troubled times.
Poorly resourced Pakistani authorities are struggling to help flood victims, many of whom have lost everything and say they received no warnings that raging waters were heading their way.
United Nations World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamaal said an estimated 1.8 million were in dire need of water, food and shelter.
Anger was palpable in towns such as Charssada. A Reuters reporter saw people attacking trucks distributing relief items. Police then charged at them with batons.
Bistma Bibi (65), who lost two grandsons in the floods, accused state relief workers of only helping friends or relatives. “I came here at five o’clock in the morning. I begged and fought but got nothing. They’re giving them [supplies] to their people,” she said.
Mr Zardari’s administration has faced a cascade of crises over the last few weeks, from the worst ever domestic air crash on the edge of the capital to leaked reports on Islamabad’s alleged support for militants fighting US troops in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani president is in Europe on a state visit, which has angered ordinary Pakistanis and political parties who wonder why he is abroad during such a difficult period. During a meeting with French president Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris on Monday, Mr Zardari asked for immediate international aid.
Presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar quoted him as saying: “We need to rebuild the damaged infrastructure that has been destroyed first by the war against militancy and now further by the torrential rains.”
The US embassy has announced $10 million (€7.6 million) in immediate humanitarian aid, with more to be earmarked as necessary. The European Union will donate €30 million while China will donate 10 million yuan (€1.1 million).
Amir Khan Hoti, chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the epicentre of the crisis, said the aid “should be bigger because the losses and damages are so huge”. Authorities have forecast more of the heavy monsoon rains that have been lashing the area for the past week.
Unicef spokesman Abdul Sami Malik said that of the more than three million affected, 1.3 million people were severely impacted by the floods, losing homes and livelihoods. “The main problem there is outbreak of diseases, especially in Nowshera district where hundreds of dead animals are lying on the ground,” said Adnan Khan, spokesman for the Crisis Management Authority in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Islamist charities, some with suspected ties to militants, have stepped in to provide aid, piling pressure on the government to show it can take control. Islamist groups played a key role in the relief effort following a huge earthquake in Kashmir in 2005.
The government faces highly determined militants, who often try to capitalise on a lack of civil services to recruit disillusioned Pakistanis to take up arms against the state. – (Reuters)
CATALOGUE OF DESTRUCTION: PAKISTAN'S FLOOD BY THE NUMBERS
3,000,000
Number of people affected (UN)
1,400
Number of people killed (UN)
27,000
Number of people who remain trapped and awaiting help in the Swat Valley (including 1,500 tourists) (Pakistan government)
42,000
Number of people who received emergency food from United Nations World Food Programme by Monday.
250,000
Number of people who United Nations World Food Programme expect to assist by week’s end.
1,800,000
Number of people who United Nations World Food Programme believe need food aid.
$10,000,000
Aid pledged by United States
€30,000,000
Aid pledged by European Union
HOW TO HELP: IRISH RELIEF EFFORT AND CONTACTS
Action Aid1890 704 704
www.actionaid.ie
Christian Aid Ireland01 611 0801
www.christianaid.ie
Concern01 417 7700
www.concern.net
Irish Red Cross01 642 4600
www.redcross.ie
Oxfam Ireland1850 30 40 55
www.oxfamireland.org
Trocaire01 629 3333
www.trocaire.org
MSF Ireland1 800 905 509
www.msf.ie
Unicef Ireland01 878 3000
www.unicef.ie