Over 1,750 died in Pakistan floods

ISLAMABAD - The toll in Pakistan’s devastating floods rose to 1,752 Monday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a high-level meeting to discuss post-floods situation.

The floods have created havoc in 79 of the 124 districts in the country, causing massive damages to standing crops, covering an area of 1.3 million acres, destroying infrastructure, bridges, roads, schools, health centres and buildings, besides displacing millions of people, he said.

“In my visits to flooded areas in the country, I have witnessed horrible tales of fear and deprivation. I have seen that people have lost their shelters, livestock and livelihoods,” Xinhua quoted him as saying. Some 2,600 people were reported injured in the floods.

The meeting was attended by chief ministers and senior officials of four provinces that discussed reconstruction of affected areas and a plan to give cash to affected people, Gilani’s office said.

“Innocent children are threatened with diseases and malnutrition. Expecting mothers do not have bare minimum essential nutrients. About 20 million people are seeking help,” he said.

About 1,000 bridges and over 4,000 km of roads have been damaged, re-construction of which would cost eight to nine billion rupees (about $100 million), 20 percent of the irrigation infrastructure, livestock and crops have been destroyed, and the power supplies corporations’ cumulative losses exceed 13 billion rupees, the meeting was told.

Over 77 countries have contributed in cash and kind for the affected people. The IMF has lent emergency financial aid to Pakistan. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other donors have also promised to redirect and fast track their existing commitments, the prime minister said.

Donors through the UN system have pledged about $950 million, he added.