Global General

Pakistan braced for more floods; aid tops $800m

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-23 09:40

SHADADKOT, Pakistan - More than $800 million has been donated or pledged to help Pakistan's flood victims, the foreign minister said on Sunday, as hundreds of thousands of people in the south feared more destruction.

Rising waters in Sindh province threatened to wreak havoc in Pakistan in a catastrophe that may help Islamist militants gain supporters.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed gratitude for the $815.58 million in international assistance to ease the suffering from one of the worst disasters in Pakistan's history.

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"In such a situation, when the West and Europe and America are in recession and donor fatigue is being discussed, this kind of solidarity for Pakistan, I think, is very encouraging," he told a news conference in Islamabad. The UN had appealed for $459 million in initial response funds.

The worst floods in decades have destroyed villages, bridges and roads made more than 4 million homeless and raised concerns that militants will exploit the misery and chaos.

Saleh Farooqui, director general of the disaster management authority in Sindh, said floods have hit at least four districts, including urban areas, forcing about 200,000 people to flee for higher ground in the last 24 hours.

"The south part of Sindh is our focus. We have diverted our resources for rescue operations towards that area," he said.

Officials expect the floodwaters will recede nationwide in the next few days as the last river torrents empty into the Arabian Sea, state news agency APP reported.

But when that happens, millions of Pakistanis will almost certainly want the government, which was already constrained by a fragile economy before the flood, to quickly deliver homes and compensation for the loss of livestock and crops.

Across the Pakistan flood zone, thousands - perhaps hundreds of thousands - of people have decided to stay in their homes, often sleeping on rooftops because of the high water.

"The women were scared before we sent them away, and we're scared now," said Ayoub, a thin, courtly man with a white mustache wearing a dirt-stained shalwar kameez.

He was one of about 30 men who remained as guardians and to build up the embankments in case of more flooding. About 400 villagers have already fled. "How can we all leave?" he asked. "We have to stay here if we want to protect what we own."