Disease Threatens Pakistan Flood Victims

Pakistani children suffering from water borne diseases get treatment in a local hospital in Multan in central Punjab province

story by VOA News
photo by AP

Aid officials say disease outbreaks pose new risks to victims of Pakistan's worst floods in decades.

Officials said Friday the lack of clean drinking water and sanitation is spreading gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and skin diseases. Aid workers warn the waterborne diseases and other illnesses could raise the death toll from two weeks of flooding to more than the estimated 1,600 who have already died.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said Friday United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in the country Saturday to hold talks on the relief efforts. The U.N. has appealed for $460 million to provide immediate help, including food, shelter and clean water.

U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said as much as a quarter of Pakistan has been affected by the flooding.

The U.S. State Department says Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry will visit Pakistani next week to survey the damage. So far, the United States has provided more than $76 million in relief aid to Pakistan.

The floods, triggered by monsoon rains, have affected close to 14 million in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh provinces over the last two weeks. Hundreds of homes, bridges and roads have been washed away and at least 2 million people left homeless.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visited flood-hit areas in southern Sindh province Thursday, following widespread criticism of his controversial trip to Europe during the disaster. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani traveled to flood-hit areas in the southwestern Baluchistan province and appealed for more international help.

Pakistani authorities issued new flood warnings for Punjab and Sindh, and evacuated at least 400,000 people from the city of Muzzaffargarh in Punjab province due to rising water levels.

Meanwhile, two U.S. military helicopters were the first of 19 to arrive in Pakistan on Thursday from a U.S. amphibious ship (USS Peleliu) in the Arabian Sea.

Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.