The death toll from massive floods in northwestern Pakistan rose to 1,100 yesterday as rescue workers struggled to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by the raging water.
The rescue effort was aided by a slackening of the monsoon rains that have caused the worst flooding in decades in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa Province. Only as flood waters started to recede have authorities begun to understand the full scale of the disaster.
“Aerial monitoring is being conducted and it has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away,” said Latifur Rehman, spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. “The destruction is massive.”
The flooding, which the UN estimates has affected 1 million people nationwide, comes at a time when the Pakistani government is already grappling with a faltering economy and a war against the Taliban.
The US, which spends billions of dollars to dampen anti-US sentiment in Pakistan, has stepped in to offer emergency aid to the northwest.
The 1,100 death toll from the flooding could go even higher since rescue workers have been unable to access certain areas, said Adnan Khan, a disaster management official.
Almost 700 people have drowned in the Peshawar valley, which includes the districts of Nowshera and Charsada, and 115 others are still missing, Khan said.
The districts of Swat and Shangla have also been hit hard and have suffered more than 400 deaths, said Mujahid Khan, the head of rescue services for the Edhi Foundation, a private charity.
Residents of Swat were still trying to recover from a major battle between the army and the Taliban last spring that caused widespread destruction and drove some 2 million people from their homes. About 1 million of those are still displaced.
In Swat alone, the floods have destroyed more than 14,600 houses and 22 schools, Khan said.
Authorities have deployed 43 military helicopters and more than 100 boats to try to rescue about 27,300 people still trapped by the floods, Rehman said.
“All efforts are being used to rescue people stuck in inaccessible areas and all possible help is being provided to affected people,” he said.
However, some residents stepped up their criticism of the government’s response.
“The flood has devastated us all and I don’t know where my family has gone,” said Hakimullah Khan, a resident of Charsadda who complained the government has not helped him search for his missing wife and three children. “Water is all around and there is no help in sight.”
The threat of disease loomed as well, as some evacuees in the northwest arrived in camps with fever, diarrhea and skin problems.
“There is now a real danger of the spread of waterborne diseases, like diarrhea, asthma, skin allergies and perhaps cholera in these areas,” said Shaharyar Bangash, the head of operations in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa for World Vision, an international humanitarian group.
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