ISLAMABAD, July 30-The death toll in Pakistan’s floods rose to 397 on Friday after three days of flooding and heavy rains, with over 100 injured, officials and media reports said.Rescue workers searched for dozens of missing people as flash floods triggered by monsoon rains washed away bridges, inundated villages, caused landslides and left hundreds of thousands stranded.Most affected was the north—western province of Khyber—Pakhtunkhwa, which saw its worst flooding since 1929.Mujahid Khan, a spokesman of Edhi Foundation, which runs an ambulance service, said that at least 313 people were killed in various parts of the province, where an emergency has been declared.Most of the fatalities were in the mountainous Malakand region where the heavy rain triggered landslides and blocked the main roads to the rest of the country.“At least 140 were killed only in Shangla district while 135 people died in Swat district,” said Mr. Khan. “Seventeen more died when lightning struck in Dir area of Malakand.” Forty—nine people were buried when a hill collapsed and covered a road in Shangla district’s Basham area, Samaa television reported.Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the provincial information minister, said that according to initial estimates some 400,000 people were left homeless across Khyber—Pakhtunkhwa.Rescue boats and helicopters had been sent to provincial capital Peshawar to evacuate hundreds trapped by the floodwaters, national Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.“People and the government are working together,” he said. “Army troops are also taking part in relief activities. We are reaching everywhere we are getting reports (of problems),” Mr. Malik said.The authorities had also rescued 193 Chinese nationals, trapped by the floods while working on the Karakorum Highway which links northern Pakistan with China, Mr. Malik said. An operation to rescue the remaining seven workers was under way, he said. In the Pakistan—administered part of Kashmir, the rain and floods killed at least 22 people, said the region’s chief administrator, Sardar Attique Khan.
Thirteen people died in the eastern province of Punjab, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said on Thursday.
The death toll was feared to rise as communication services in many areas were disconnected and information about the disaster was slow to arrive.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has announced it would be sending emergency supplies to those affected.
The UN Human Settlements Programme, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization and the World Food Programme also pledged support for the victims.
U.S. Ambassador Ann Patterson vowed on Friday to make seven helicopters immediately available to assist the government in its relief efforts.
“The heavy monsoon rains have caused much suffering,” Ms. Patterson said. “We are working with Pakistan’s government to review urgent humanitarian needs and hope to announce additional assistance very soon.” Pakistan, like most South Asian countries, experiences an annual monsoon, which brings heavy rains to the whole subcontinent for much of July.
Last week dozens of people were killed in floods in the impoverished south—western province of Baluchistan.
The national Meteorological Department has predicted 10 per cent more rain this year than during a normal monsoon season.
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