Natural Disaster and Displacement is an ongoing story in South Asia

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s government on Tuesday wrestled with a natural disaster that seemed to grow by the hour as new storm warnings threatened to deepen the worst floods in 80 years.

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Floods Displace More Than a Million Pakistanis

Residents of Nowshera whose homes were destroyed. A provincial official said 1.4 million people had lost their homes.

Estimates of the dead and displaced have been steadily growing since the flooding began last week. The United Nations Childrens Fund, an aid organization usually known as Unicef, said 3 million people in the country had been affected by the floods, including 1 million children in need of emergency assistance. Unicef also said the floodwaters had claimed 1,400 lives..
The government issued new flood warnings on Tuesday as monsoon rains resumed, forcing the suspension of relief activities in several northwestern parts of the country and raising fears the high water levels would threaten Pakistan’s third-biggest dam.
The latest warning about Warsak Dam, roughly 20 miles, or 30 kilometers northwest of Peshawar, the provincial capital, spread panic among residents of the city and its neighboring areas.
“If needed, forced evacuation will be started”, Adnan Khan, a spokesman for the Disaster Management Authority of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.
Local news media reported that people had fled from three villages near the dam.
A special session of the federal cabinet will convene on Wednesday to discuss the flood situation, said Babar Awan, the country’s law minister.
Several days after the disaster, the government was still trying to chart out a strategy to provide relief to those affected and reach the international community for aid and assistance.
President Asif Ali Zardari, meanwhile, was scheduled to arrive in London on Tuesday, continuing an overseas trip that began in France on Monday.
On Monday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani asked the government to approach the United Nations for help in preparing a call to the international community for emergency aid.
The United States already has pledged $10 million in relief; the United Nations has offered $10 million; and China has pledged $1.5 million, according to the Xinhua state news agency.
The latest spell of rains will compound the misery of disgruntled survivors, who have complained bitterly about the slow pace of relief efforts. A temporary reprieve from the rains in the past two days had given some people opportunities to salvage their belongings from destroyed and collapsed houses.
“This spell of rain will continue for the next two to three days”, Muhammad Hanif, an official at the Meteorological Department said. He said the rains would be less intense than last week.
Residents of Nowshera and Charsadda districts in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province have staged rallies to protest against slow delivery of aid and relief goods.
Local news media outlets reported that 150,000 people in Kot Addu, a southern Punjab town, risked displacement as floodwaters threatened to overrun that city and adjoining villages. Officials there asked people on Tuesday to close down the main markets and move to safer locations. Local news networks broadcast images of women and children huddled on trucks and buses as they moved out of the town.
Hundreds of villages in neighboring Dera Ghazi Khan were submerged on Monday night, due to flash floods.


Source:   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/world/asia/04pstan.html