SOCIETY
ONE MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED BY PAKISTAN FLOODS, UN SAYS
Baku, July 31 (AZERTAC). At least one million people in north-west Pakistan have been affected by the country`s worst monsoon floods in living memory, the UN says.
At least 400 people have been killed, though officials warn the number is likely to rise as large areas remain inaccessible and more rain is forecast. Rescuers are struggling to reach inundated areas where transport and communication have been cut off. Peshawar, the area`s largest city with a 3m-strong population, is now cut off. Manuel Bessler, the head of the UN`s Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) in Pakistan, told the BBC he could not say with certainty the full scale of the emergency as he was having trouble reaching his own offices in some of the worst-affected areas.
"We`re only going to know the extent of the damage when the waters recede and we can gain access to the worst-hit areas," he said. Only once the water recedes, Mr Bessler said, would it become clear how many people had perished, and how bad the damage was. "In the mean-time, the priorities in the north-west are to help coordinate efforts to provide shelter, health care, drinking water and ready-to-eat food rations, as it is very difficult to cook food in these conditions."
"The other main worry is that the main swollen rivers running south will carry the floods to provinces like Sindh where heavy rain is forecast in the coming three to four days."