The United Nations appealed today for $459 million (€352 million) in aid for flood-hit Pakistan, warning of a second wave of death among sick, hungry survivors unless help arrived quickly.
According to UN figures, more than 14 million people have been affected by the floods, more than 1,200 have died and nearly 300,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.
The appeal was launched by UN humanitarian chief John Holmes and will cover a 90-day period of immediate relief.
Mr Holmes told UN envoys the disaster was "one of the most challenging that any country has faced in recent years."
The United Nations said it could cost billions of dollars to rehabilitate the victims and rebuild ruined infrastructure. The UN humanitarian division OCHA said key needs that UN and private aid agencies had to address in Pakistan included food, clean drinking water, emergency health services, tents and shelter kits, cooking sets and mosquito nets.
Mr Holmes said the "emergency response plan" would be revised after 30 days as more information came in.
UN humanitarian operations spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said he was optimistic the funds would arrive and $150 million had already been pledged. The UN World Food Programme said it needed $150 million to feed six million people for the next three months.
Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed from northern mountains to the plains of the southern province of Sindh, where the waters have not yet crested, meaning the situation could get worse. Countless villages and farms have been inundated, crops destroyed and livestock lost. In some places, families are huddled on tiny patches of water-logged land with their animals surrounded by an inland sea.
On the outskirts of the city of Sukkur, in Sindh, hundreds of people waited for food supplies at a tent camp. "I lost my 12-year-old son. I've been to my village with soldiers on a boat but there was no sign of him," said farmer Mohammad Hassan.
"I'm so worried. I don't know what to do. Should I take care of my family here or go and look for my son?" Hassan, a father of 10, said before rushing into a throng jostling around a truck that arrived with rations of cooked rice.
The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm, and the finance ministry said the country would miss this year's 4.5 per cent gross domestic product growth target though it was not clear by how much.
President Asif Ali Zardari, under fire for his government's perceived sluggish response to the floods, defended his decision to travel to France and Britain at the end of last month. He said the talks had helped focus international attention on the plight of the victims.
"Some have criticised my decision, saying it represented aloofness, but I felt that I had to choose substance over symbolism," he said in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.
The British government had pledged $24 million in aid, the Pakistani leader said. He had also been in touch with the US government, which has promised $55 million in help.
Pakistan's military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, reinforcing the faith many Pakistanis have in their armed forces and highlighting the comparative ineffectiveness of civilian governments. Analysts say the armed forces would not try to take power as they have vowed to shun politics and are busy fighting militants.
US military helicopters have been airlifting survivors in an effort that may win Washington some supporters in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high. The United States needs a stable Pakistan to help it end a nine-year war by the Taliban in Afghanistan.