400,000 affected by floods in Pakistan

Helicopters were today being used to airdrop urgent relief aid to some of the more than 400,000 people battered by monsoon-spawned flooding in coastal areas of Pakistan.

Many of the stricken were living in higher open areas or on the roofs of buildings to escape the floodwaters which inundated large areas of Baluchistan province in wake of Cyclone Yemyin, said Tariq Ayub, the provincial home secretary.

The army, he said, had taken over the relief operations, using 14 helicopters to reach stranded villagers.

Ayub, who also heads the main relief centre, estimated that some 100,000 houses had been destroyed or damaged. More than 400,000 have been affected by the floods, caused by heavy rains and spillovers from rivers and dams.

The cyclone struck the coastline of Baluchistan on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people, said Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the provincial government. Others were believed lost in the Arabian Sea, but no estimates were available.

Navy warships and helicopters have rescued at least 125 crewmen from floundering craft, the navy and Maritime Security Agency said.

Aircraft and speedboats were also in demand to help hundreds of people on five isolated islands lying 90 miles south-east of Karachi, said Sami Memon, president of the Fisherfolk Forum, a fishermen’s welfare body.

Inland in the mountainous Bolan district, floodwater burst three small dams, inundating 15 villages and forcing thousands of residents to camp out in the open, local government official Aslam Jamali said.

“The water is demolishing their homes, but we had already evacuated them,” he said.

The army said it had evacuated 4,500 people stranded at various points along the coast.

Located to the east on the same Arabian Sea coastline, Karachi suffered torrential rains and thunderstorms, which killed at least 228 people last Saturday.

City authorities continued to grapple with electricity shortages caused by power lines that were snapped by falling trees, pylons and billboards.