Authorities in northwest Pakistan were on high alert today for fresh floods though officials engaged in relief operations were optimistic that another wave of monsoon rains would not pose as great a threat as the earlier deluge.
Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest has been hit hardest by Pakistan’s worst floods in 80 years and the unprecedented rains and floods have affected millions in the region.
Many parts of the province, including the Swat valley, continue to be cut off as the waters washed away roads and bridges.
"The Kabul and Indus rivers are in high flood but there is no threat to the population as of now," said an official of the provincial disaster management authority.
Asked about the fresh rains this afternoon in Peshawar, he said, "We aren’t worried about it as it is rains in the mountainous areas that create problems for us. The floods in rivers are caused by rains in the mountains where they originate.”
The military and aid organisations scrambled to provide food, water and healthcare to millions of affected people after weather improved in the region.
Officials said 50 more deaths had been recorded in the region since the weekend. Nearly 1,700 people have died in the worst floods to hit Pakistan since 1929.
Pakistan Army helicopters resumed rescue operations to airlift trapped people in Madiyan, Bahrain, Kalam and other inaccessible areas of Swat district after weather conditions improved today, military officials said.
A total of 23 military helicopters are participating in rescue and relief operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Bad weather in Malakand division, particularly in Swat, had resulted in the suspension of helicopter services over the past few days.
The international organisation for migration (IOM) today distributed 500 tents donated by the UK department for international development.
The group’s trucks drove through heavy rain on flood-damaged roads to deliver the tents to destitute families in a village in Charsadda district.
IOM said it had also received 14,000 blankets and 1,153 rolls of plastic sheet from the USAID and these items will be distributed to victims identified by village elders.
"The community knows who is most vulnerable and who most needs the aid. The token system also ensures crowd control and minimizes the risk of looting by people who are desperate," said IOM Pakistan emergency officer Izora Mutya Maskun.
