- 20 million homeless in Pakistan floods
- Hundreds of thousands of homes gone.
- Some communities are marooned. Help can not get through due to bridges being destroyed.
- 1.7 million acres of farmland and crops wiped out.
- Outbreaks of cholera due to contaminated water.
- The Indus River is 25 kilometers wide in some places.
- More rain is coming.
McClatchy opines the probable coming unrest could destabilize the nation. Anger at the “shambling” response by the government will clearly be rising.
The situation worsened Friday as authorities ordered the evacuation of Jacobabad, a city of 1.4 million people in southern Sindh province, and forecasters warned that fresh monsoon rains in the mountainous northwest would send a new wave of flooding south down the central Indus River valley over the weekend.
Jacobabad is a modern, industrialized city with a population roughly the size of San Antonio or Philadelphia.
In reply to a question about assessment damage to agriculture and livestock, [a Pakistan official] said: “The enormity of the calamity is beyond all calculation. For now, the government is overwhelmed by relief and rehabilitation work. The assessment will be done after a semblance of sanity returns.”
Disease Spreads In Pakistan Crisis
Pakistan’s flood crisis is making the spread of disease a fast increasing problem and hospitals are struggling to cope with the sheer volume of affected people. Women and children, especially newborns, are suffering the most from malnourishment. http://www.newslook.com/videos/241523-disease-spreads-in-pakistan-crisis?autoplay=true