Cholera confirmed in Pakistan as UN chief visits

The UN believes 1,600 people have died in the disaster, while Islamabad has confirmed 1,343 deaths.

UN officials warn that the damage to infrastructure and the economy will put volatile Pakistan back years.

With up to 2 million people requiring emergency shelter and 6 million depending on humanitarian assistance to survive, troops distributed national flags among the people in the flood-hit northwestern town of Nowshera.

“We lost our houses and everything in the floods. We urgently need food and medicines, not flags,” 80-year-old Rasul Khan told reporters.