Flood devastation now threatens southern Pakistan

As forecasts predict more heavy rain over the coming days, the UN has revised its estimates for the flood crisis in Pakistan. The UN believes that 1.5 million homes have been damaged or washed away and 4-6 million people are affected. The government in Pakistan puts the numbers even higher, saying that over 14 million people have been affected.

Aid agencies report that in the northern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the impact of the floods is worse than previous disasters. After the earthquake of 2005, people were able to recover some of their household goods, like beds and utensils, and also salvage belongings like jewellery. But where houses have been destroyed this time, the flood waters have swept everything away.

Bordering Afghanistan, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region has also suffered from mass displacement caused by violence over-spilling into Pakistan from the war in Afghanistan. Forced to leave their homes because of the fighting in recent years, local people were just beginning to achieve some sense of normality when the floods hit. And the disaster has meant that families who were already sheltering displaced people, have themselves lost their homes. A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said any new recovery in the region must involve the support of the international community.

Roads, bridges and railways have been washed away and frequent landslides are also hampering attempts to reach the worst-affected areas. In harsh weather, helicopters are not always able to fly, so both the army and aid agencies are in some areas forced to move around on foot and use donkeys to carry relief supplies, especially to cut-off villages in the Swat Valley.

As the heavy monsoon rain continues, flood waters from the north are now flowing downstream and hitting the agricultural heartland of the Punjab. The army is currently engaged in evacuating people along a 1,000 km (600 miles) stretch of land along the Indus river basin from the northwest to the southern state of Sindh.

Reports are arriving this week that the water levels in Sindh have already exceeded danger levels at a key flood barrier and the overflow is threatening as much destruction in this southern province as has been witnessed elsewhere.

In the long term, the UN has said that Pakistan will need billions of dollars in aid to recover. But for now, the emphasis is on using relief money to help the thousands of people who are still being displaced. In Britain, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) announced its appeal for donations raised 4 million pounds in just two days. Neither SOS Children nor UNICEF are part of the DEC.

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