Hundreds of thousands uprooted, time running out for rescue

The Daily Times, July 30, 2010

No respite from floods, 500 killed

* KP minister says world needs to move quickly as time running out

* 400,000 people stranded in various northwest villages

* Met Office says more rains likely in next 24 hours

PESHAWAR/LAHORE:

Torrential rains and subsequent floods have wreaked havoc on the lives of the people across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 500 people by Friday, with the provincial government appealing to the world to come forward and help the province cope with the calamity.

KP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain called the floods “worse situation in the wake of monsoon rains and flash floods” and put the death toll at 408, adding that time was running out for rescuing people stranded in floodwater.

“At least 600,000 people have been affected and the number is likely to go up as water levels continue to rise in rivers in Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsada,” the minister said.

He said the destruction caused by the flood was wide-scale and the washing away of bridges and highways had impeded relief operations. “I appeal to the world and humanitarian organisations to help us on an urgent basis, as we are facing worse natural disaster,” he told a news conference after a high-level meeting headed by KP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti.

The meeting decided to freeze all development projects and focus only on rescue and relief operations for the people affected by rains and floods.

Hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of cultivated land have been destroyed in KP and Azad Kashmir.

Iftikhar warned that if international help did not arrive immediately, it could be too late for thousands of people affected by the calamity. “Help us through food, medicine and money,” the minister pleaded. KP’s rail and road links with Punjab have also been cut off.

Stranded: The minister estimated that 400,000 people were stranded in various northwestern villages. “A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available for carrying out relief activities,” he said. Reports from Shangla said 60 people were killed in a landslide in the Olanger area. Forty bodies were recovered while local residents were searching for the remaining corpses. Other reports said 150 people were missing as floods washed away 200 kilometres of main and link roads across KP.

The Karakoram Highway was also closed as rains washed away a bridge in Shangla, cutting off Gilgit-Baltistan from other parts of the country.

Met Office: Pakistan Meteorology Department (PMD) Director General Qamar Zaman Chaudhry said more showers were likely in KP, Punjab and Kashmir in the next 24 to 48 hours.

The Pakistan Army and Navy were called in various areas to help civil administrations cope with relief activities, and the army had reportedly rescued 14,250 people from flood-hit areas in KP by Friday.

Monsoon floods wash away 110 lives in NW Pakistan

by Syed Moazzam Hashmi

ISLAMABAD, July 30, 2010 (Xinhua)--

Communication infra-structure has been damaged as the continuing overnight string of torrential rains and subsequent floods took a heavy toll of over 110 lives in the worst-hit northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the tough monsoon season in Pakistan, local source said on Friday.

"Communication structure has been severely damaged as the entire province is hit by floods," provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told local media on Thursday.

All rivers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are in high-level floods and the water has entered homes forcing people out stranded in the absence of an effective evacuation plan and relief camps.

More than 200 houses have been washed away. An entire neighborhood in provincial capital Peshawar was half submerged into flood water forcing 500 families out in the middle of nowhere. Electricity, telephone lines and cellular phone networks have been badly damaged, partially or completely suspending services in various areas.

Some 30,000 people have been affected by floods and rains in scenic Swat valley and Malakand areas. At least 20 link-bridges and eight hotels have also been washed away in flash floods. Over 40 people have been killed in the area including 21 electrocuted by thunder lightening in tourist resort Shangla hill area, local media said.

"300 students of Malakand University are stranded. 46 Chinese workers have been rescued from flooded areas," said Hussain, whose son was assassinated by insurgent Taliban militants on Saturday and the minister survived a suicide bomb blast attempt two days later.

No drinking water, no food," screamed Inayatullah, a villager in flood affected Charsaddah area. While another man Saifullah screamed, "no boat to rescue my children."

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ameer Haider Hoti has ordered for a C-130 military aircraft and 50 boats to expedite the relief and rescue operation. The province and its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan are the front line region in fighting war against terrorism.

Whereas emphasizing the need to adopt proactive approach by taking preventions, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt. General (Retired) Nadeem Ahmed said, "it would be dangerous to use boats for rescue in high flood currents. "

The residents know their areas better and should have evacuated ahead of floods, the multi-million dollar relief organization's chief told a private news channel Duniya in an interview on Thursday.

NDMA which was established after the devastating October 2005 earthquake in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Malakand areas with handsome international donor funding, appeared to be helpless as local media surveyed the continuing plight of marooned masses.

Emergency has been declared in Dera Ismael Khan and other areas bordering Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces where rivers are in middle or high level floods due to continuing heavy downpour and melting snow up on mountains in the north of Pakistan.

Pakistani Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has called Chief Minister Hoti offering condolences over the loss of life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The premier also called the reserve Civil Defense Authority asking to play its due role in the relief work.

Meanwhile, Kohlu and Barkhan areas are still in floods which had left over 60 people dead and 30,000 homeless in floods caused by heavy rains a week ago. Six people have also been killed in rains in Azad Kashmir where Neelam and Jehlum rivers are in high floods.

In southern Sindh province, Indus river would experience high floods as all five major rivers in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces submerge with all their overflowing waters into Indus as it enters Sindh to drop down into Arabian Sea. Areas particularly near the banks of Indus have been ordered to evacuate.

Punjab province that is still struggling to flush the accumulated water out from the previous week rains also braces for more monsoon downpour, floods and accompanying complications, disaster and human misery without adequate preparations.

Editor: Fang Yang