Parts of northwest Pakistan inundated by the worst floods in 80 years face life-threatening food shortages, a UN aid agency said today.
That scenario would create a new crisis for politically-fragile President Asif Ali Zardari, in a country where civilian governments have a poor history of managing crises, leaving the powerful military to step in.
World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamal said the organisation's workers were urgently trying to reach flood areas in the northwest cut off from food supplies.
Before the floods hit, a million people were already forced from their homes in the Pakistani northwest because of fighting between the army and Taliban militants.
‘We have sent a request to the government and we are getting six helicopters from them and we will be doing air drops to the areas which are cut off,’ Mr Jamal told Reuters in a telephone interview.
WFP teams in the field since yesterday may not be able to report their findings until tonight, he said.
‘You can imagine for five or six days floods have caused havoc in these areas. People have lost their food stocks.
‘The markets are not up and running. Shops have collapsed. People are definitely in the greatest need of food,’ he said.
The flood catastrophe, which started a week ago and has killed more than 1,400 people, is likely to deepen as more rains are expected.
‘A lot of agriculture-based activities have gone under water. So people may not be able to harvest or even sow their crops. This is a food crisis,’ said Mr Jamal.
‘This region was already under the highest food insecurity status and the floods have further aggravated the situation.’
Adding to the food shortage, a feared breakout of water-borne diseases such as cholera could create a health crisis.
Click here for details of Irish aid agencies responding to the disaster.
