Flooding in Pakistan has killed more than 800 people in a week, a government official said Saturday as rescuers struggled to reach marooned victims and some evacuees showed signs of fever, diarrhea and other waterborne diseases.
The flooding caused by record-breaking rainfalls caused massive destruction in the past week, especially in the northwest province, where officials said it was the worst deluge since 1929. The UN estimated Saturday that some 1 million people nationwide were affected by the disaster, though it didn't specify exactly what that meant.
The information minister for the northwest province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said reports coming in from various districts across the northwest showed that more than 800 people had died due to the flooding. Many people remain missing.
Floodwaters were receding in the northwest, officials said, but fresh rains were expected to lash other parts of the country in the coming days.
In the Nowshera area in the northwest, scores of men, women and children sat on roofs in hopes of air or boat rescues.
"There are very bad conditions," said Amjad Ali, a rescue worker in the area. "They have no water, no food."
A doctor treating evacuees at a small relief camp in Nowshera said some had diarrhea and others had marks appearing on their skin, causing itching. Children and the elderly seemed to have the most problems, Mehmood Jaa said.
"Due to the floodwater, they now have pain in their bodies and they are suffering from fever and cough," Jaa told The Associated Press.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|