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 Floods and landslides triggered by days of rain in the disputed
Himalayan region have killed at least 450 people in India and
Pakistan and cut off more than one million people from basic
services.
"Finally the flood water levels are receding. Now our teams will be
able to enter some of the villages that are totally submerged. Our
boats are ready," R.K. Khan, a police official in the region's
summer capital, Srinagar, told Reuters.
The swollen Jhelum river flooded large parts of the city of nearly
one million people, snapping communication lines as desperate
families were forced to huddle on rooftops of houses and mosques for
survival.
"There are some villages where everything has been swept away.
People are extremely angry, frustrated and exhausted," said Khan,
who manages the state's emergency control room.
State Chief Minister Omar Abdullah vowed to restore emergency
services.
"I know people have lost everything. We promise to rehabilitate
them. No relief and rehab camps can be perfect. We are doing all we
can," Abdullah told reporters.
He said the top priority was to distribute clean drinking water,
medicines, food for infants and prevent the spread of water-borne
diseases.
The Indian army has evacuated 76,000 people from their homes,
mosques and government buildings. The death toll from the flooding
in Jammu and Kashmir, the country's northernmost state, reached 220
by Wednesday.
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The flooding is the first major humanitarian emergency under Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, and also comes at a difficult time for
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has faced weeks of street
protests aimed at forcing him out.
In Pakistan, at least 231 people were reported to have been killed
by the floods across the country, including Pakistan's side of
Kashmir.
South Asia experiences monsoon rains from June to September, which
are vital for its agriculture. But the rains frequently turn to
floods, devastating crops, destroying homes and sparking outbreaks
of diseases like diarrhoea.
(Reporting by Rupam Jain Nair; Editing by Douglas Busvine)
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