PAKISTAN LAST night braced itself for further torrential rains as aid agencies struggled to cope with the growing scale of what officials now believe is the biggest disaster in the history of the state.
“We’re forecasting widespread rains in the country, especially in flood-affected areas,” Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director general of the country’s meteorological department, said.
Some 12 million people have now been affected by the worst flooding in memory, according to Pakistani officials, and more than 650,000 houses have been destroyed.
Gen Nadeem Ahmed, chairman of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority, said those figures applied only to the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab provinces, with figures from the southern Sindh province not yet available.
By comparison, the earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005 affected 3.2 million people and damaged or destroyed 611,000 homes.
At least 1,600 people have been killed by the floods, which started last week when heavy rains struck the northwest of Pakistan. Villages have been swept away and vast swathes of agricultural land are under water. Food supplies are running low in some areas and health experts warn conditions are ripe for the spread of disease.
As swollen rivers flow south, fears of further large-scale destruction have prompted mass evacuations. In the Sindh province, half a million people have been evacuated from low-lying areas of the Indus river.
The cost of rebuilding roads and other infrastructure damaged so far is estimated in excess of €1 billion.
“In my opinion, when assessments are complete, this will be the biggest disaster in the history of Pakistan,” Gen Ahmed said yesterday.
Similar remarks were made by prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in a televised address. He called on the international community and Pakistanis living abroad to contribute towards relief efforts. Aid agencies, including Concern and Trócaire, have launched emergency appeals.
Cecil Dunne, Trócaire’s emergency officer in Pakistan, noted the situation in the country’s northwestern region was already acute following a military offensive against home-grown Taliban last summer that drove entire communities from their homes. “Now people are on the run again, their homes, crops and livestock destroyed for a second time.
“People . . . desperately need our support not only in the coming weeks but in the years that it will take to rebuild communities.”
Meanwhile, criticism of Pakistan’s government has intensified as the scale of the disaster becomes apparent, with particular anger directed at president Asif Ali Zardari, who went ahead with state visits to Britain and France this week.
Zardari’s absence at the height of the disaster has stirred resentment in the most affected regions.
“This trip seems to have been the litmus test, and any benefit of the doubt that the president had remaining in his favour has now entirely ceased to exist in the eyes of the public,” said Fasi Zaka, a radio presenter and columnist.
The relief effort includes Islamic charities, among them the Falah- e-Insaniat Foundation, a banned group that has been linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. There are fears militants may exploit growing anger felt in the worst-hit regions.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said his department was in close contact with the UN and aid agencies to determine the best way Ireland could assist in relief efforts.