Zardari visits Pakistan flood zone
Pakistan's president has visited flood-hit area of Sukkur after criticism of his government's response to the crisis
(12.8.10)
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan made his first visit to a flood-hit area after criticism over trips abroad and his government's perceived slow response to the two-week-old crisis.
The floods, triggered by monsoon downpours, have engulfed the Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of about 14 million people.
The deluge, which began two weeks ago, has extensively damaged crops, agriculture officials said. The United Nations appealed for $459m in emergency aid and warned of more deaths if help did not arrive.
Zardari, widower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, set off on visits to Britain and France as the floods were beginning. Two days after returning home, he arrived in the city of Sukkur on the banks of the Indus in the southern province of Sindh to see the destruction and aid efforts.
Government and international agencies are still assessing the extent of the flood damage, but a spokesman for UN humanitarian operations said a third of the country had been affected.
Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed from the northern mountains to the plains of Sindh, where the waters have not yet crested.
Countless villages and farms have been inundated, crops destroyed and livestock lost. In some places, families are huddled on tiny patches of waterlogged land with their animals, surrounded by an inland sea.
People have been jostling for food at distribution points throughout the disaster area, with religious scholars granting permission for victims to delay the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
"The government … should provide clean water and clean food to the people," said Mohammad Ali, a breadmaker scrambling for supplies in the north-west. "Ramadan has arrived, but we see no sign of the government giving us any of these things."
The costs of rehabilitating the agriculture sector could run into the billions of dollars, said UN humanitarian operations spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.
Wheat, cotton and sugar crops have all suffered significant damage and the UN has warned of a second wave of death among survivors, from disease and food shortages, unless help arrives quickly.
The military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, which together with Zardari's absence has reinforced faith in the armed forces at the expense of the civilian government.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/12/pakistan-president-visits-flood-zone
