Islamabad/Karachi:
The devastating floods sweeping Pakistan have displaced 10 lakh more people in southern Sindh province, straining the resources of the government and aid agencies as they struggle to provide relief to the victims of the deluge.
New flooding in Thatta and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts of Sindh, caused by the Indus river which is at 40 times its normal volume, forced the displacement of one million people since Wednesday, said UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.
Nearly 200,000 people fled their homes in Thatta city, 120 km southeast of Karachi, early this morning after a dyke protecting the city was breached by flood waters.
An earlier breach in another dyke at Sarjani forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their houses.
However, many people did not leave flooded areas as they feared their homes would be looted and their livestock stolen by marauding gangs of robbers. Officials said these people were stranded.
Scores of people took refuge in the Makli Hill graveyard, which has the tombs of Muslim saints dating back to the 14th century.
UN agencies, international aid agencies and the Pakistani military have been at the forefront of efforts to rescue survivors and provide relief to the homeless.
However, the UN said an estimated eight million people continued to be in need of humanitarian aid while nearly five million were without shelter.
Martin Mogwanja, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, said: "We are working day and night to bring relief to millions of women, men, and children, but the floods appear determined to outrun our efforts. We have been scaling up, but must scale up even further."
The worst floods in Pakistan's history were triggered by heavy monsoon rains that began on July 22.
Flash floods initially devastated the northwest and central parts of the country before swollen rivers made their way south, causing a second wave of flooding.
The floods have killed over 1,700 people and affected 20 million.
The deluge has also destroyed or damaged 1.2 million homes and over 3.4 million hectares of crops have been lost. Most of the newly displaced need shelter, food, water and medical care.
"We are scaling up response to reach all those in need," said Manuel Bessler, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"But with one million more displaced people in Sindh over the past two days, and thousands more people being affected almost every day, needs quickly outplace our capacity, our supplies, and our resources."
The number of flood-affected people in Sindh rose sharply from 1.5 million on August 13 to 3.7 million today.
In terms of surface area, Sindh is now the worst-hit province of Pakistan, officials said.
The Indus continued to be at an "exceptionally high flood level" at Kotri Barrage, where a flow of 939,000 cusecs was recorded today.
The high flood situation at Kotri is expected to cause more flooding over the next eight to nine days. There were reports that gastro-enteritis and other waterborne diseases had killed six persons in Zhob and Sherani districts of Balochistan.
The torrential rains and floods had contaminated underground water, and this caused the outbreak of diseases.
Amid the relief efforts, the Pakistani Taliban have accused the West of having ulterior motives in sending aid and issued a threat to foreign aid workers.
However, international agencies like the UN and ICRC have said they are determined to continue relief operations despite the perceived threat.
New flooding in Thatta and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts of Sindh, caused by the Indus river which is at 40 times its normal volume, forced the displacement of one million people since Wednesday, said UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.
Nearly 200,000 people fled their homes in Thatta city, 120 km southeast of Karachi, early this morning after a dyke protecting the city was breached by flood waters.
An earlier breach in another dyke at Sarjani forced hundreds of thousands of people to leave their houses.
However, many people did not leave flooded areas as they feared their homes would be looted and their livestock stolen by marauding gangs of robbers. Officials said these people were stranded.
Scores of people took refuge in the Makli Hill graveyard, which has the tombs of Muslim saints dating back to the 14th century.
UN agencies, international aid agencies and the Pakistani military have been at the forefront of efforts to rescue survivors and provide relief to the homeless.
However, the UN said an estimated eight million people continued to be in need of humanitarian aid while nearly five million were without shelter.
Martin Mogwanja, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, said: "We are working day and night to bring relief to millions of women, men, and children, but the floods appear determined to outrun our efforts. We have been scaling up, but must scale up even further."
The worst floods in Pakistan's history were triggered by heavy monsoon rains that began on July 22.
Flash floods initially devastated the northwest and central parts of the country before swollen rivers made their way south, causing a second wave of flooding.
The floods have killed over 1,700 people and affected 20 million.
The deluge has also destroyed or damaged 1.2 million homes and over 3.4 million hectares of crops have been lost. Most of the newly displaced need shelter, food, water and medical care.
"We are scaling up response to reach all those in need," said Manuel Bessler, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"But with one million more displaced people in Sindh over the past two days, and thousands more people being affected almost every day, needs quickly outplace our capacity, our supplies, and our resources."
The number of flood-affected people in Sindh rose sharply from 1.5 million on August 13 to 3.7 million today.
In terms of surface area, Sindh is now the worst-hit province of Pakistan, officials said.
The Indus continued to be at an "exceptionally high flood level" at Kotri Barrage, where a flow of 939,000 cusecs was recorded today.
The high flood situation at Kotri is expected to cause more flooding over the next eight to nine days. There were reports that gastro-enteritis and other waterborne diseases had killed six persons in Zhob and Sherani districts of Balochistan.
The torrential rains and floods had contaminated underground water, and this caused the outbreak of diseases.
Amid the relief efforts, the Pakistani Taliban have accused the West of having ulterior motives in sending aid and issued a threat to foreign aid workers.
However, international agencies like the UN and ICRC have said they are determined to continue relief operations despite the perceived threat.
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