Taliban in aid threat as Pakistanis flee floods
Source: Agencies |
August 28, 2010, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HUNDREDS of thousands of Pakistanis were fleeing floodwaters yesterday after the surging River Indus smashed through levees in two places, but many refused to leave the danger zone while others took shelter in an ancient graveyard for Muslim saints.
The new flooding came after the Taliban issued a veiled threat against foreign aid workers helping in the crisis, a development likely to complicate the massive relief effort. More than 8 million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.
The floods began in the mountainous northwest around a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains and have moved slowly down the country toward the coast in the south, inundating vast swaths of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than 1 million homes.
Around 175,000 people are believed to have fled their homes overnight in the southern city of Thatta after the levee protecting the city was breached, said Manzoor Sheikh, a senior government official. Authorities were trying to repair the levee, about 125 kilometers southeast of the major coastal city of Karachi.
"The situation is getting worse," said local disaster official Hadi Baksh Kalhoro. "The water is flowing into a nearby canal endangering Thatta city."
A second breach occurred in the Soorjani levee in the same region, said Gulab Shah, who is helping relief efforts.
"It is beyond control now," he said. "Thousands of people are sitting with their cattle and belongings and their lives are in danger. They are not willing to leave."
Dozens of people taking shelter in the Makli Hill burial ground, one of the largest such sites in the world. The graveyard, which is not believed to be in danger, houses the tombs of hundreds of Muslim saints dating from the 14th century.
UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said about 1 million people have been displaced in Thatta and Qambar-Shadadkot districts since Wednesday.
Underlining the fragile security environment, a bomb at a restaurant in the northwestern town of Mansehra killed one person yesterday, local police said. They were investigating who planted the bomb and why.
The new flooding came after the Taliban issued a veiled threat against foreign aid workers helping in the crisis, a development likely to complicate the massive relief effort. More than 8 million people are in need of emergency assistance across the country.
The floods began in the mountainous northwest around a month ago with the onset of monsoon rains and have moved slowly down the country toward the coast in the south, inundating vast swaths of prime agricultural land and damaging or destroying more than 1 million homes.
Around 175,000 people are believed to have fled their homes overnight in the southern city of Thatta after the levee protecting the city was breached, said Manzoor Sheikh, a senior government official. Authorities were trying to repair the levee, about 125 kilometers southeast of the major coastal city of Karachi.
"The situation is getting worse," said local disaster official Hadi Baksh Kalhoro. "The water is flowing into a nearby canal endangering Thatta city."
A second breach occurred in the Soorjani levee in the same region, said Gulab Shah, who is helping relief efforts.
"It is beyond control now," he said. "Thousands of people are sitting with their cattle and belongings and their lives are in danger. They are not willing to leave."
Dozens of people taking shelter in the Makli Hill burial ground, one of the largest such sites in the world. The graveyard, which is not believed to be in danger, houses the tombs of hundreds of Muslim saints dating from the 14th century.
UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said about 1 million people have been displaced in Thatta and Qambar-Shadadkot districts since Wednesday.
Underlining the fragile security environment, a bomb at a restaurant in the northwestern town of Mansehra killed one person yesterday, local police said. They were investigating who planted the bomb and why.
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