Heavy rains expected to batter Pakistan

SUKKUR, Pakistan - Heavy rains are expected in areas of Pakistan already hit by the worst floods in 80 years, the meteorological department said on Friday, raising the possibility of more destruction.

"We're forecasting widespread rains in the country, especially in flood-affected areas," Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director-general of the department, told Reuters.

The floods have swallowed up entire villages, killed over 1,600 and devastated the lives of more than 4 million people, as well as inundating crop-producing areas, dealing a crippling blow to the agricultural-based economy and threatening a food crisis.

Floods are expected to inflict heavy suffering in southern Sindh province after roaring down from the northwest and through the agricultural heartland Punjab province. The authorities have so far evacuated more than half a million people in Sindh.

"Monsoon rains continue to fall and at least 11 districts are at risk of flooding in Sindh, where more than 500,000 people have been relocated to safer places and evacuation still continues based on the Meteorological Department's alerts," said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

While the authorities have conducted evacuations they are struggling with relief efforts. Food supplies are becoming a serious issue in some areas and conditions are ripe for disease.

Meanwhile, overnight flash floods killed at least 88 people around the main town of the India-controlled Himalayan region of Ladakh, officials said on Friday, and soldiers had been called in for rescue operations.

Indian officials said dozens of people were still missing after the floods, triggered by unexpected heavy rains, damaged houses, telephone towers and government buildings in the town of Leh in India-controlled Kashmir.

Over 6,000 Indian soldiers are conducting rescue and relief work, an army spokesman said.

Witnesses said hundreds of houses, government buildings and the main bus station were flattened by mudslides and floods.

Ladakh has been hit by unusually bad weather in the past few days, stranding many tourists who flock to the place for adventure sports such as white water rafting.

Leh, dotted with Buddhist monasteries, lies at an altitude of 3,505 meters.

Reuters

(China Daily 08/07/2010 page8)