Deadly flooding spreads to Pakistan's heartland

[August 03, 2010]  KOT ADDU, Pakistan (AP) -- Floodwaters that devastated Pakistan's mountainous northwest surged into the heartland Tuesday, submerging dozens of villages along bloated rivers whose torrents have killed at least 1,500 people and put 100,000 at risk of disease.

Fresh rains in the hardest-hit northwest threatened to overwhelm a major dam and unleash a new deluge.

Relief work for some 3.2 million people has been delayed by swamped roads, washed-out bridges and downed communication lines, and survivors have complained about government inaction. Countries including the U.S. have pledged assistance to Pakistan, which is already struggling to control a rapacious Taliban militant movement.

As floodwaters swept southward into Punjab province, about 3,000 people were marooned in the Kot Addu area after the water breached a protection bank, forcing the army to stage an evacuation using boats and helicopters, said Maj. Farooq Feroz, a military spokesman.

The sudden gusher surprised Fateh Mohammad and his family.

"We just ran away with our children, leaving behind everything. All our possessions are drowned in the water. We have nothing," he said while taking refuge on higher ground.

Water levels were so high in large tracts of Kot Addu and the nearby area of Layyah in the south of the province, that only treetops and uppermost floors of some buildings were visible, footage shot by an Associated Press Television News cameraman on a helicopter showed. People sought refuge on rooftops and tried to bring their livestock up as far as possible.

Punjab is Pakistan's most populous province and home to many of its largest farms. Feroz said many villages in the province's Layyah, Taunsa Sharif, Rajan Pur, Dera Ghazi Khan and other areas had been inundated by water.

In the northwest, new downpours Tuesday added to the misery of the worst flooding in generations. Of the 3.2 million people affected by flooding, 2.5 million live in the northwest, UNICEF spokesman Marco Jimenez told reporters in Geneva.

Rising water levels at Warsak Dam, the country's third biggest, prompted disaster officials to ask residents in the northern outskirts of Peshawar city to leave their homes.

"If needed, forced evacuation will be started," said Adnan Khan, a spokesman for the Disaster Management Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Around 1,500 people have been killed in the flooding that began last week, said Christian Cardon, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. More than 100,000 people at risk of disease and clean water is urgently needed in flood affected areas, said Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the World Health Organization in Geneva.

The northwest is the epicenter of Pakistan's battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Alongside military and police operations, the government -- with the support of the West -- has tried to improve its services and living standards there to blunt the appeal of militancy.

The Pakistani army, which has the helicopters, boats and infrastructure needed for relief work, is delivering food, medicine and tents, as are government agencies and several different political parties and welfare organizations.

But many flood victims were unhappy with the response. About 300 people blocked a major road in the hard-hit Nowshera district Monday to protest at receiving little or no aid, witnesses said.

At least one extremist group -- a welfare organization allegedly linked to the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant network -- is also helping survivors. The group, Falah-e-Insaniat, has previously helped civilians after other disasters.

The United States, keen for an opportunity to win friends in the region, is providing $10 million dollars in emergency aid. It has also provided rescue boats, water-filtration units, prefabricated steel bridges and thousands of packaged meals.

Other foreign countries, aid groups and the United Nations have promised or are delivering aid.

Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s World Food Program, said the agency had delivered food to 40,000 people and is aiming to reach 250,000 people by the end of the week.

But "access is really remaining a major challenge," she said.

[Associated Press; By KHALID TANVEER and RIAZ KHAN]

Khan reported from Peshawar. Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.

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