September 12, 2014
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani military stepped up rescue efforts as floods wreaked havoc in more districts of the country's eastern Punjab province on Friday, leaving hundreds of thousands a people homeless.
In neighboring India-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, flood waters started receding but triggered concerns of possible spread of disease in the devastated areas. The floods, which began Sept. 3 in both sections of the divided Kashmir, have so far killed 264 people in Pakistan and the Pakistan-administered Kashmir while 200 have died in the India-controlled part of the disputed region.
Another wave of flooding is expected to hit southern Pakistan next week. After destroying hundreds of villages in the Jhang district this week, the floods on Friday hit three more Punjab districts — Multan, Bahwalpur and Rahim Yar Khan. Troops air-dropped food rations as three more deaths were registered there, according to disaster management spokeswoman Reema Zuberi.
The Pakistani army said its helicopters were plucking people from rooftops and air-dropping food in flood-hit areas. So far, the military rescued 29,295 people by helicopters and boats, while 47,963 were rescued by civilian rescue services, said Ali Imam Syed, an official with emergency services in eastern Punjab.
In neighboring India, officials said their military and private doctors set up medical camps to treat flood-affected people in India's part of Kashmir, where water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhea were reported.
Shakila Butt, who runs the Al Ameen hospital in the Indian part of Kashmir, appealed to authorities and non-governmental organizations to supply medicines as she expected an influx of patients in the coming days.
"There are chances of epidemic diseases," she said. The Indian government said its army's 80 medical teams treated over 21,500 patients this week at field hospitals in Avantipur, Pattan and Anantnag in the Kashmir valley.
The Indian army also set up 19 relief camps in Srinagar and elsewhere. Authorities in India said 84 transport aircraft and helicopters and 30,000 troops were participating in rescue operations. Pakistan and India have a history of uneasy ties, but relations have improved in recent years. Each side has offered to help the other recover from the floods, the worst to hit Pakistan since 2010, when some 1,700 people died.
Sharma reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Merajuddin and Shonal Ganguly in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani military stepped up rescue efforts as floods wreaked havoc in more districts of the country's eastern Punjab province on Friday, leaving hundreds of thousands a people homeless.
In neighboring India-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, flood waters started receding but triggered concerns of possible spread of disease in the devastated areas. The floods, which began Sept. 3 in both sections of the divided Kashmir, have so far killed 264 people in Pakistan and the Pakistan-administered Kashmir while 200 have died in the India-controlled part of the disputed region.
Another wave of flooding is expected to hit southern Pakistan next week. After destroying hundreds of villages in the Jhang district this week, the floods on Friday hit three more Punjab districts — Multan, Bahwalpur and Rahim Yar Khan. Troops air-dropped food rations as three more deaths were registered there, according to disaster management spokeswoman Reema Zuberi.
The Pakistani army said its helicopters were plucking people from rooftops and air-dropping food in flood-hit areas. So far, the military rescued 29,295 people by helicopters and boats, while 47,963 were rescued by civilian rescue services, said Ali Imam Syed, an official with emergency services in eastern Punjab.
In neighboring India, officials said their military and private doctors set up medical camps to treat flood-affected people in India's part of Kashmir, where water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhea were reported.
Shakila Butt, who runs the Al Ameen hospital in the Indian part of Kashmir, appealed to authorities and non-governmental organizations to supply medicines as she expected an influx of patients in the coming days.
"There are chances of epidemic diseases," she said. The Indian government said its army's 80 medical teams treated over 21,500 patients this week at field hospitals in Avantipur, Pattan and Anantnag in the Kashmir valley.
The Indian army also set up 19 relief camps in Srinagar and elsewhere. Authorities in India said 84 transport aircraft and helicopters and 30,000 troops were participating in rescue operations. Pakistan and India have a history of uneasy ties, but relations have improved in recent years. Each side has offered to help the other recover from the floods, the worst to hit Pakistan since 2010, when some 1,700 people died.
Sharma reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Merajuddin and Shonal Ganguly in Srinagar, India, contributed to this report.
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