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By Aamir Latif
ISLAMABAD
A total of 233 people have died in floods in Pakistan since last Thursday, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), a state-owned organization that coordinates relief and rescue agencies.
Lahore, the country’s second largest city, has been the worst-affected with 77 deaths in rain related accidents, mostly from roofs collapsing.
Sixty-nine people died in torrential rain and flashfloods in different parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Authorities fear an outbreak of diseases in the flood hit areas as the marooned residents are forced to drink rainwater,and eat unhygenic food.
Nearly a thousand villages have been flooded with over 300,000 people marooned in Pakistan’s northeastern Punjab province. Authorities on Tuesday issued red alert warning to several more towns and districts.
Northeastern Jhang district is likely to be hit in the next 24 hours. Authorities have asked the residents of low-lying and suburban areas to immediately evacuate.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Office, rising water levels of the Chenab and Jehlum rivers now pose a threat to southern districts of the Punjab.
Similarly, the met office said water level in the Indus river are rising and are likely to strike the southern Sindh province by the end of this week.
Twenty-eight more people were killed in different parts of the Punjab on Tuesday raising the death toll in floods and rain related accidents at 233 since Thursday,
Over 400 people have been injured, while over a thousand homes are uninhabitable. And 19 people were killed, and two dozens injured after roof of a Mosque in the state capital Lahore collapsed on Tuesday due to pressure of heavy rains.
Road networks in the affected areas are virtually impassable disconnecting the region with rest of the country.
Hundreds of people are suffering from malaria, diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases due to stagnating water, said Dr Tabbassum Jafri, a spokesman for Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), which has set up various medical camps in flood-hit areas.
Jafri added that the lack of medical facilities, poor food and sanitation conditions had increased the risk of further outbreaks in the days to come.
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