Authorities struggle to save over 27,000 trapped by floods in Pakistan; death toll over 900

Thousands trapped by Pakistan floods; 900 dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Rescue workers struggled Sunday to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by massive flooding in Pakistan’s northwest that has killed over 900 people and destroyed thousands of homes, officials said.

The effort has been aided by a slackening of the monsoon rains that have caused the worst flooding in decades in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. But as flood waters have started to recede, authorities have 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 and devastating.”

The death toll from the flooding has risen to 903 people, said Mujahid Khan, the head of rescue services for the Edhi Foundation, a private charity. The worst hit areas have been the districts of Swat and Shangla, where more than 400 people have died, he said.

The disaster comes as the residents of Swat are 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 a million of those people are still displaced.

Authorities have deployed 43 military helicopters and over 100 boats to try to rescue some 27,300 people still trapped by the floods, said Rehman, the disaster management spokesman. At least 115 people are still reported missing in Swat and Shangla, he said.

As rivers swelled in the northwest, people sought ever-shrinking high ground or grasped for trees and fences to avoid getting swept away. Buildings simply crumbled into the raging river in Kalam, a town in the northern part of the Swat Valley, local TV showed.

“All efforts are being used to rescue people stuck in inaccessible areas and all possible help is being provided to affected people,” said Rehman.

But some residents stepped up their criticism of the government’s response on Sunday.

“The flood has devastated us all, and I don’t know where my family has gone,” said Hakimullah Khan, a resident of Charsadda town 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,” said Khan.

The military has deployed 30,000 army troops who had evacuated 19,000 trapped people by Saturday night, said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

But the U.N. has estimated that 1 million people nationwide have been affected by the floods, and the scale of the disaster has strained the resources of a government already grappling with a faltering economy and a brutal war against the Taliban.

Even people like Sehar Ali Shah who were rescued by the government complained that authorities didn’t provide shelter that would allow them to stay until the flood waters receded.

“My son drowned, but I don’t see the government taking care of us,” said Shah after returning to his half-submerged house in the city of Nowshera. “The government has not managed an alternate place to shift us.”

Authorities have recovered more than 400 bodies from Swat and Shangla, but the collection effort has been hampered by mud and debris from destroyed houses, said Khan, the Edhi Foundation representative.

The floods have caused an acute shortage of fruits and vegetables in the northwest because many of the hardest hit areas were the key centers of production, said Khan.

The threat of disease loomed as well as some evacuees 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, a major international humanitarian group.

A variety of nations and aid organizations have begun to mobilize a response to the flood disaster.

The U.S. delivered thousands of food packages, four rescue boats and two water filtration units to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, said Rehman, the group’s spokesman.

“This is much needed stuff in the flood-affected areas and we need more of it from the international community,” said Rehman.

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has also announced it will provide 12 prefabricated steel bridges to temporarily replace some of the spans damaged by the water.

But some residents wondered how they would ever recover from such a disaster.

“I won’t be able to cover my losses for 10 years,” said Shair Dad, a timber shop owner in Nowshera who lost most of his wood in the floodwaters.

____

Associated Press writer Nabeel Yusuf contributed to this report from Nowshera.