Aid 'still not reaching Pakistan flood victims'

Many of the 20 million people affected by flooding in Pakistan have yet to receive any assistance despite a growing international relief effort, the UN said today as authorities warned the swollen Indus River may burst its banks again in the coming days.

Many of the 20 million people affected by flooding in Pakistan have yet to receive any assistance despite a growing international relief effort, the UN said today.

Authorities have also warned that the swollen Indus River may burst its banks again in the coming days.

The country has been devastated by one of its worst-ever natural disasters, testing the already shaky government just as the United States wants it to focus on the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

About a fifth of the country has been affected since the floods began three weeks ago.

Local charities and international agencies have rushed food, water, shelter and medical treatment to the worst-hit areas in the north-west and Punjab and Sindh provinces.

But aid agencies and the British government have complained that the international response to the disaster has not been generous enough.

Many victims are living in makeshift camps alongside their livestock or in flooded towns and villages.

"The vast geographical extent of the floods and affected populations meant that many people have yet to be reached with the assistance they desperately need," the UN said in a statement.

The world body also said the number of children and breast-feeding mothers affected and an increase in cases of diarrhoea "point towards a clear risk of malnutrition among the affected population".

The floods have killed about 1,500 people and inundated 1.7 million acres of wheat, sugar cane and rice crops, raising the prospect of food shortages in the coming months in the already-poor nation.

Prices of food have risen sharply across the country since the floods began.

Authorities in Sindh province said more floods were likely over the next 24 to 48 hours.

"The next two days are crucial for the safety of people," said Sindh's irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.