PAKISTAN: Fear of serious outbreaks of deadly diseases growing after the country's worst floods in 80 years

Record ID: 345537

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Fear of serious outbreaks of deadly diseases growing after the country's worst floods in 80 years
  • Date: 15th August 2010
  • Summary: DAIRA DEEN, PUNJAB PROVINCE, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 14, 2010) (REUTERS) ELDERLY WOMAN SITTING ON COT ELDERLY MAN WITH CHILDREN SITTING ON COT VARIOUS OF CHILD WITH FLIES ALL OVER FLOOD VICTIMS UNDER OPEN SKY FLOOD VITIMS SITTING ON COT (SOUNDBITE) (Seraiki) ALLAH YAR, FLOOD VICTIM SAYING: "Nothing is being done to prevent diseases, there is not even proper arrangement of
  • Embargoed: 30th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVADAEU9OXMCW6G9736CJQIDYVGK
  • Story Text: The risk of serious outbreaks of deadly diseases is growing in Pakistan after the country's worst floods in 80 years.
    Aid agencies say the situation raises fresh concerns amid already complicated relief efforts.
    The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon downpours, have engulfed Pakistan's Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing two million from their homes and disrupting the lives of 14 million people, around eight percent of the population.
    At a hospital in Mingora, the main town in Swat valley, an official who asked not to be named told Reuters one case of cholera was confirmed. A German humanitarian organisation said there were also six suspected cases there. An epidemic could create another disaster for Pakistan.
    The United Nations is worried about water-borne diseases with 36,000 suspected cases of potentially fatal acute watery diarrhoea reported so far.
    In Daira Deen in Punjab province, flood victims living in the open remain vulnerable.
    One man, Allah Yar. said nothing was being done to prevent diseases and no proper arrangements made for medicines.
    Mohammed Pathan moved to Sukkur town in Sindh province to escape the floods when his own village was decimated.
    "We have lost everything back there," he said. It could be months before he gets the chance to return home.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Pakistan over the weekend to discuss the crisis.
    Pakistan's overwhelmed government has been on the defensive after criticism of its response to one of the worst catastrophes in the country's history.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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