Pakistan braces for second death wave

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.

Fresh rains threaten further anguish for millions of people who have been affected by the country’s worst floods for 80 years and UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has urged the world to speed up international aid urgently.

Described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world yesterday, the three-week disaster has affected 20 million people, and has destroyed crops, infrastructure, towns and villages, according to the Pakistani government.