Floods kill 1,400 in Pakistan
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People clear debris as their houses were flooded following heavy monsoon rains in northwest Pakistan's Nasir-Bagh on Aug. 1, 2010. The current horrible wave of floods and landslides triggered by torrential monsoon rains has killed more than 900 people in Pakistan while 1 million people have become homeless as the flood is now hitting western and southern parts of the country. (Xinhua/Saeed Ahmad) |
The United Nations agencies estimated a million people were affected by the calamity, over 45 link-bridges destroyed and some 3,700 homes washed away in Pakistan so far.
Some 21 military helicopters and over 150 boats are participating in the rescue work across the country as more battalions of military and rangers have been deployed in the sensitive areas of southern Sindh province which is not yet all prepared to brace the forthcoming high-level floods expected to pass through the Indus River by Thursday.
Chief ministers of both the worst-hit northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and eastern Punjab province are touring their respective provinces almost the entire day supervising relief and rescue operations.
Whereas Pakistani military chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani, who is extending an all-out support to relieve the troubled civilians and save precious lives, toured the terribly-hit Swat valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which is experiencing floods and rains for the past six days. The summer vacations in schools in Swat valley have been extended for another two weeks.
At least 116 bodies have been recovered in Swat. Over 5,000 tourists were trapped in Naran area. Following public pressure heavy earth-moving machines were used to clear the landslide- affected roads. Some 250,000 cusecs of water has been recorded in the Swat River, the highest since 1929.
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