Aid workers fear flooding will spread throughout Pakistan

12 April 2012

Rescue teams battling against the floods in Pakistan warned today that bloated rivers would soon surge into the country's south.

Tens of thousands have been rescued by the army which defended its operation after being accused of being too slow to respond.

Major-general Nadir Zeb said at least 30,000 people have been rescued from the Punjab in the last 72 hours. But he warned of more flooding as forecasts predicted more heavy rains.

"People must co-operate with us, and they must leave those areas where floods are going to hit," he said.

Hundreds of villages in the north-west have been destroyed and more than 1,500 people have died. The World Food Programme estimates that 1.8 million people, mainly children, will need to be fed over the next month.

Dr Mohammad Rafiq, Unicef's officer in charge in Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa, the worst-hit province, said: "They are the most vulnerable people now. They face a great threat from hunger and diseases like cholera and scabies.

"Our biggest concern is the places we have not been able to reach yet. Roads have been destroyed and bridges washed away, which makes our work even more difficult."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in