PAKISTAN ordered 300,000 people to evacuate a southern city after waters breached its defences as the United Nations warned yesterday the country’s worst humanitarian crisis was deepening.

THE United Nations warned yesterday that up to 3.5 million children were at risk from water-borne diseases in Pakistan’s floods and said it was bracing for thousands of potential cholera cases.

The United Nations launched an appeal to raise almost $460m (€357m) for flood-hit Pakistan tonight.

A recruitment drive was launched today for skilled volunteers who want to be deployed to humanitarian emergencies around the world.

UN-led teams in Haiti yesterday switched their focus away from searching for people trapped in collapsed buildings to providing aid to hundreds of thousands of increasingly desperate survivors.

The Government today pledged more than half a million euro in emergency funding to support people forced to flee their homes during the conflict in north-western Pakistan.

UN and private aid agencies today raced to prepare aid for victims of the devastating cyclone in Burma, but were awaiting a go-ahead from the ruling junta.

AID agencies appealed for funds Friday to tackle floods that have swept across at least 18 African countries, killing close to 300 already and heightening the risks of disease outbreaks.

Two planes carrying more than €100,000 of aid have been ordered to help relief efforts in flood-hit areas of Sudan and Pakistan, it was revealed today.

A new crack team of humanitarian experts will be ready to be deployed to a disaster zone by the Autumn, the Government said today.

Torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics, UN aid bodies warned yesterday.

THE humanitarian situation in Lebanon is deteriorating rapidly as the country becomes more isolated because of damage in continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations and Red Cross said yesterday.

UN agencies, governments and aid organisations rushed emergency supplies to Indonesia today to lay the groundwork for a coordinated humanitarian response to this weekend’s deadly earthquake as the death toll hit 5,000.

Countries and other donors told the United Nations today they were pledging an additional £300m (€440m) for Pakistani earthquake victims, but UN officials said it was unclear how much was going to combined emergency relief efforts.

The UN World Food Program suspended food convoys to the Darfur region in western Sudan after rebel forces attacked the market town of Ghubaysh and the government retaliated, UN humanitarian officials said.

The United Nations warned in a special report released today of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, saying nearly 70% of Palestinians are living in poverty as a result of Israeli policies and military operations.

NORTH Korea is in desperate need of medical aid to treat victims of its huge train blast, UN officials warned yesterday.

North Korea has asked for international help following the rail disaster, the UN said today.

A HUMANITARIAN crisis may be looming in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN agency has warned.

INDONESIA has told foreign aid workers to leave troubled Aceh for security reasons and says Jakarta wants to take over all humanitarian assistance in the province.