Pakistan floods leave millions hungry - U.N.

Enjoy Pakistan floods leave millions hungry - U.N.

A child cries during the evening meal at a road-side camp for flood victims near Shabar Jangi on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province August 22, 2010.
SUKKUR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan's worst floods in decades have left millions hungry, the United Nations said on Monday, while parts of the south were on high alert for rising waters that could further tax aid groups.


A child cries during the evening meal at a road-side camp for flood victims near Shabar Jangi on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province August 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Tim Wimborne)
"We cannot talk about starvation yet but I think we can talk about millions of people being hungry," Maurizio Giuliano, the U.N. humanitarian spokesman, told Reuters.

"I think we have millions of people who are hungry, and hunger is clearly a factor that contributes significantly to vulnerability."

The flood has been spreading through the rice-growing belt in southern Sindh province district by district, breaking through or flowing over embankments.

Waters have been rising in southern Sindh and hundreds of thousands of people have fled cities, towns and villages for safer ground, disaster management officials said.

For a graphic on Pakistan's floods, click

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For a story on agricultural costs of floods

For an analysis of risks to watch in Pakistan, click

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Sindh is home to Pakistan's biggest city and commercial centre Karachi, but the floods have affected mostly rural areas and far smaller urban centres.

Over 100,000 people have fled the Sindh city of Shahdadkot, and officials say one of their biggest concerns now is growing water pressure in the Indus River along the southern cities and towns of Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Thatta which could lead to more flooding.

Saleh Farooqui, head of the Sindh Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said over 100,000 people have been evacuated from Thatta alone.

The worst floods in decades have destroyed villages, bridges and roads, made more than 4 million homeless and raised concerns that militants will exploit the misery and chaos.

The government has been accused of moving too slowly and Islamist charities, some with suspected links to militant groups, have moved rapidly to provide relief to Pakistanis, already frustrated with their leaders' track record on security, poverty and chronic power shortages.

More than $800 million has been donated or pledged to help Pakistan's flood victims, the foreign minister said on Sunday. Long-term rebuilding will cost billions of dollars, pressuring a government that was already constrained by a fragile economy before one of the worst catastrophes in its history struck.

The International Monetary Fund said it would review Pakistan's budget and economic prospects in light of the disaster in talks with government officials starting on Monday.

The meetings in Washington will focus on a $10 billion IMF programme agreed in 2008, and the budget and macroeconomic prospects will be reviewed because of the magnitude of the flood disaster, officials said.

Half a million people are living in about 5,000 schools in flood-hit areas of Pakistan. The cramped, unhygienic conditions, as well as the intense heat, raise the spectre of potentially fatal disease outbreaks, such as cholera.

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Watches this Millions tune in to Pakistan lifeline

We are enjoy now Millions tune in to Pakistan lifeline
Millions in Pakistan began tuning in to emergency lifeline radio programming yesterday, as BBC Urdu launched a new service to people in the most severely flooded areas of the country. Transmitting crucial up-to-date information, the programmes will be broadcast six times daily to reach the hundreds of thousands of people currently cut off from humanitarian aid.

By establishing a platform for people's voices and stories, we aim to rebuild a sense of community and morale as well

The first day of programmes, broadcast on Monday 9th August, included updates on affected flood areas - from food distributions to weather forecasts and a spotlight on relief efforts, as well as testimonies from displaced people, a 'hero of the day' feature and an interview with Pakistan's President Zardari. Receiving over 800 calls in the first five hours, the lines were instantly inundated by stranded residents who highlighted disease and hunger as the main issues faced by the almost 14 million people affected.

The UN says 1,600 people have died to date, a number which could rise if waterborne diseases such as cholera begin to spread rapidly. The broadcasts will include information on basic hygiene, which could slow the spread of disease, and how to access aid.

Speaking from Pakistan, the BBC Urdu service's Shafi Naqi Jamie says:

"We provide the millions whose lives and homes have been destroyed with a radio lifeline. Listeners hear about where to get food and shelter and how best to survive. But as important, by establishing a platform for people's voices and stories, we aim to rebuild a sense of community and morale as well."

Lisa Robinson, the BBC World Service Trust's infoasaid representative, flew to Islamabad this morning to coordinate the response.

The infoasaid lifeline service has been developed by BBC World Service Trust and Internews, with funding from the UK's Department for International Development.

Pakistan Millions tune in to Pakistan lifeline

Watches this enjoy Millions tune in to Pakistan lifeline
Millions in Pakistan began tuning in to emergency lifeline radio programming yesterday, as BBC Urdu launched a new service to people in the most severely flooded areas of the country. Transmitting crucial up-to-date information, the programmes will be broadcast six times daily to reach the hundreds of thousands of people currently cut off from humanitarian aid.
The first day of programmes, broadcast on Monday 9th August, included updates on affected flood areas - from food distributions to weather forecasts and a spotlight on relief efforts, as well as testimonies from displaced people, a 'hero of the day' feature and an interview with Pakistan's President Zardari. Receiving over 800 calls in the first five hours, the lines were instantly inundated by stranded residents who highlighted disease and hunger as the main issues faced by the almost 14 million people affected.

The UN says 1,600 people have died to date, a number which could rise if waterborne diseases such as cholera begin to spread rapidly. The broadcasts will include information on basic hygiene, which could slow the spread of disease, and how to access aid.

Speaking from Pakistan, the BBC Urdu service's Shafi Naqi Jamie says:

"We provide the millions whose lives and homes have been destroyed with a radio lifeline. Listeners hear about where to get food and shelter and how best to survive. But as important, by establishing a platform for people's voices and stories, we aim to rebuild a sense of community and morale as well."

Lisa Robinson, the BBC World Service Trust's infoasaid representative, flew to Islamabad this morning to coordinate the response.

The infoasaid lifeline service has been developed by BBC World Service Trust and Internews, with funding from the UK's Department for International Development.
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Watches this Asia flooding plunges millions into misery

Watched being enjoy this Asia flooding plunges millions into misery
BEIJING – Floods and landslides across Asia plunged millions into misery Sunday as rubble-strewn waters killed at least 127 in northwestern China and 4 million Pakistanis faced food shortages amid their country's worst-ever flooding.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers raced to find 500 people still missing in flash floods that have already killed 132, while North Korea's state media said high waters had destroyed thousands of homes and damaged crops.
Terrified residents fled to high ground or upper stories of apartment buildings in China's Gansu province after a debris-blocked river overflowed during the night, smashing buildings and overturning cars. An estimated 2,000 more people were missing in the latest deluge in a summer that has seen China's worst seasonal flooding in a decade.
Worst hit was the county seat of Zhouqu in the province's Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where houses buckled and streets were smeared with a yard (meter) of mud and water.
The landslides struck after heavy rains lashed China late Saturday, causing the Bailong River to burst its banks, the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the head of Zhouqu county, Diemujiangteng, as saying.
The devastation was worsened by flotsam that blocked the river upstream, creating a 2-mile (3-kilometer) -long lake that overflowed and sent waves of mud, rocks and water crashing down on the town, ripping houses from their foundations and tearing six-story apartment buildings in half.
Explosives experts were flying to the scene by helicopter to demolish the blockage and safely release potential flood waters ahead of more rain forecast through Wednesday.
China Central Television said 45,000 people had been evacuated, but the region's remote, mountainous location was hampering the emergency response. Narrow roads prevented the movement of heavy equipment, forcing rescuers to rely on shovels, picks and buckets.
Around China, the country's worst flooding in a decade has killed more than 1,100 people this year, with more than 600 still missing. The floods have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage across 28 provinces and regions.
In Pakistan, 1,500 people have been killed and millions more left begging for help following the worst floods in the country's history. Prices of fruit and vegetable skyrocketed Sunday, with more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of crops destroyed and at least 4 million people in need of food assistance in the coming months.
Pakistan has worked with international partners to rescue more than 100,000 people and provide food and shelter to thousands more. But the government has struggled to cope with the scale of a disaster that it estimates has affected 13 million people and could get worse as heavy rains lashed Pakistan again on Sunday.
At least 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares) of crops were destroyed in the central province of Punjab, the breadbasket for the rest of Pakistan, the United Nations reported. Many more crops were devastated in the northwest, where destruction from the floods has been most severe and many residents are still trying to recover from intense battles between the Taliban and the army last year.

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