Karachi: Fresh floods sent a million people fleeing from their homes in the southern part of Pakistan in the past 48 hours, the United Nations said on Friday, as officials evacuated towns threatened by the swollen Indus.
While floodwaters are beginning to recede across most of the country as the water flows downstream, high tides in the Arabian Sea meant they still posed a threat to towns in Sindh province such as Thatta, 70 km (45 miles) east of Karachi.
UN spokesperson Stacey Winston told in a news conference that they were still worried about the southern part of the country. "In the last 48 hours nearly one million people have been displaced," she said. The UN earlier said the floods had forced about six million people from their homes since they started a month ago.
The floods have killed almost 1,600 people and fears are growing that more could die if epidemics break out among people facing a lack of fresh food and clean water.
"There was another breach last night which is very close to Thatta and the evacuation has been ordered for the whole city," said Riaz Ahmed Soomro, relief commissioner in Sindh.
Many people from outlying areas had taken refuge in Thatta, which normally has a population of about 300,000, and now had to move again, Soomro said. "Boats, buses, helicopters, everything is being used to evacuate people.
The army, navy, everyone is involved in rescuing the people," he said.
However, the southern business hub of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, is far away from the flood zone.
The flood, which began after torrential monsoon downpours over the upper Indus basin, is Pakistan's worst ever natural disaster in terms of the amount of damage and the number of people affected.
The floods have deepened the anger of the people of the country at the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, which was already perceived as ineffective and corrupt before the disaster hit and there are fears of social unrest.
In the United States, an ally which regards Pakistan as a frontline state in its war against the Taliban, concerns have grown that Islamist charities, some with links to militants, had increased their involvement in the flood relief effort, possibly exploiting anger at the government to gain recruits.
Even before the floods, Pakistan's economy was fragile and government officials are in Washington this week to ask the International Monetary Fund for help. Economic growth, forecast at 4.5 per cent this fiscal year, is now predicted at anything between zero to 3 per cent.
Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said Pakistan wants to keep pursuing an $ 11 billion IMF loan programme and demonstrate its resolve to make tough economic decisions, dismissing reports that Pakistan might abandon the programme.
The floods have damaged at least 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) – about 14 per cent of the entire cultivable land – according to the United Nation's food agency. The total cost in crop damage is believed to be about $ 3 billion.
Food ministry officials said the government was likely to cancel plans to export 2 million tonnes of surplus to ensure there are no shortages. Up to 75,000 tonnes of stored grains have been washed away.
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