Disease looms after Pakistan floods kill 350
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-14 14:55

Disease threatened thousands of flood survivors in Pakistan's southwest, officials said, as freak rains which have killed around 350 people across the country continued to pour down.

Troops and authorities were trying for a fourth day to get medicine, shelter, food, and drinking water to desperate people in Baluchistan province, where some 250 alone have died, including 80 killed by a burst dam.

A Pakistani television crew film the damaged Shadi Kor Dam, in Pasni, which collapsed due to heavy rainfall sweeping villages and roads away. Disease threatened thousands of flood survivors as freak rains which have killed around 350 people across the country continued to pour down. [AFP]

The rest of the dead were mainly killed by avalanches in northern parts of the country. Around 2,000 people are missing and tens of thousands have been left homeless throughout Pakistan.

"We are worried about the spread of disease in the area and officials are considering to take immediate measures to stop any possible outbreak," said Raziq Bugti, media consultant to the chief minister of Baluchistan.

The World Health Organisation has also warned of possible dangers from infectious and waterborne diseases.

"Over the next few days we may see the emergence of serious health problems among the population in the affected areas," WHO country director for Pakistan Khalif Bile said in a statement Sunday.

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, who flew over the area on Saturday and announced compensation for all bereaved families, said the damage in Baluchistan had been exaggerated.

"I would like to give a correct picture of what has happened. There was no ... flood there except the water kept collecting and people started shifting to higher grounds," General Musharraf told state television late Sunday.

But there were continuing problems getting aid to affected people, particularly near the southwestern coastal town of Pasni, where the Shadi Kor irrigation dam collapsed late Thursday, washing entire villages into the sea.

Another three small dams collapsed over the weekend.

Two C-130 Hercules military transport planes loaded with aid were arriving in Pasni on Monday, Bugti said. Aid would then be distributed to individual villages and districts, mainly by helicopter.

"We are trying to reach as many people as possible in the shortest time, but rescue teams are facing difficulties as roads have been badly damaged and washed away," he added.

The air force, navy and army are leading the massive relief effort while paramilitary troops, police and private aid organisations are also taking part.

No fresh casualties were reported overnight but meteorological officials said rains continued across Baluchistan, except for coastal areas. Northern areas were also hit by fresh snow.

"The rains in Baluchistan are likely to end Monday night and move towards northern areas and Kashmir, where it will bring more snowfall," Pakistan Meteorological department director general Dr Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said.

Rescue teams were still battling to reach the site of two avalanches late Saturday in the mountainous region of Abbottabad which killed around 40 people. Bad weather has kept them from the area, police said.

Police said 46 people were killed in earlier avalanches in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and scores of houses had been buried.

Pakistan has been gripped by a cold and rainy snap since February 3.

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