The BBC's Orla Guerin joined a Pakistani army helicopter crew on a mission into the disaster zone Rescue teams in northern Pakistan are hoping to reach tens of thousands of people still cut off by floodwaters. Aid agencies said entire villages had been washed away as the region faced its worst flooding for 80 years. Unicef said 3m people had been affected and 1,400 had been killed. Other estimates said between 800 and 1,500 had died, with 27,000 still trapped. Reports suggest help has so far been slow to arrive, with criticism rising of the pace of the government response. In Swat, where thousands are still rebuilding after a major military operation against Taliban rebels during 2009, the flooding has brought down bridges and left communities cut off. "The civil administration is totally zero in helping," one medical student, Abdullah, told the BBC in Swat. "There is no aid agencies here at the moment - I haven't seen anyone, because more than 25 bridges have been swept away. These are the metal bridges for carrying transport." Adnan Khan, a spokesman for the disaster management authority in the worst-affected province, Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, told Reuters news agency that logistics were now an immense challenge. "The entire infrastructure we built in the last 50 years has been destroyed," he said. Aid agencies say the risk of water-borne diseases spreading is now high before the floodwaters fully recede. "Specifically diarrhoeal diseases, skin problems, eye problems, malaria and fevers, and measles, especially in children. That's why it's very essential to take all the appropriate measures to address those issues," Dr Ahmed Farah Shadoul, the World Health Organization's acting head in Pakistan, told the BBC. The UN children's agency Unicef said more than a million children needed emergency aid. Dr Shadoul said he had received reports of people being bitten by snakes, and said the WHO had provided anti-venom in some regions. Food is scarce in the area and water supplies have been contaminated by the floods. Unicef says it has been working with the Pakistani authorities to repair wells and provide chlorine tablets so that water can be treated before it is drunk. Local official Mian Iftikhar Hussain said rescue teams were trying to reach 27,000 stranded people, including 1,500 tourists in the Swat Valley, the scene of a major military offensive against the Taliban last year. From the air we've had a clear view of the destructive force of the monsoon rains. Muddy brown waters have submerged fields, bridges and roads, destroying crops and devastating communities. In some areas we've seen people wading, chest-deep, through the floods. In others, only the tops of trees have been visible. We went to the city of Nowshera, one of the worst affected areas, where we saw several lakes - including one which covered the polo ground. Mud and rubble lined the streets. We met people at a temporary camp who said they were being helped by the army, but they were worried about the future. "We are also getting confirmation of reports about an outbreak of cholera in some areas of Swat," he added. The Pakistani military says it has committed 30,000 troops and dozens of helicopters to the relief effort, but winching individuals to safety is a slow process. The army said on Monday that the initial rescue operation may be over in 10 days, but rebuilding the damaged areas could take more than six months. The BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Islamabad says the biggest challenge for the emergency services is access, as so many areas had their transport and communication links destroyed and are now isolated. Although the rain has stopped, huge swathes of north-west Pakistan remain submerged. Some survivors have complained that the government has responded slowly; several hundred people protested in the city of Peshawar, where homeless survivors have crammed into temporary shelters. "The government is not helping us," said 53-year-old labourer Ejaz Khan, whose house on the city's outskirts was swept away by the floods. In Nowshera district another flood victim, Faisal Islam, told the Associated Press: "We need tents. Just look around. This is the only shirt I have. Everything else is buried." Islamist groups, some accused of having links to the Taliban, have been providing aid to many of the victims. Governments around the world have pledged millions of dollars in aid.
At the scene
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
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