More evacuations in flooded Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Authorities in Pakistan moved tens of thousands of people to safe areas as floods threatened dozens more villages in the south of the country Saturday.

Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains have started to recede from much of the country, but the banks of the Indus river have been breached in the southern province of Sindh.

More than six million people have been left homeless and over 15 million have been directly or indirectly affected by the floods that have ravaged the country for the last three weeks.

Some 100,000 people fled on cars, vans, trucks and even on foot, carrying whatever belongings they could take with them.

Yasin Shar, the civil administrator in Shahdadkot district, said the flood water was now touching the last embankment near the town.

“Military, police and many young men who have stayed back are trying to save the embankment,” said Shar.

Many of those who were moved out were staying at the relief camps set up on government premises, while thousands of more were waiting for shelter, food and water.

Thousands of more people were being evacuated from 20 villages submerged by floods in Sehwan district.

Starting in late July, the rising waters have inundated around one-fifth of the country and destroyed around a million houses, standing crops and killed around 1,500 people.

The UN has appealed for $460 million in emergency assistance to the flood victims. Relief activities have been hampered by bad weather and the destruction of bridges and roads.