Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is appealing for urgent international help for 15 million people affected by the country's record-breaking floods. Mr Gilani has met flood victims and rescue teams in the city of Sukkur and is pleading for international help as the disaster worsens. Up to 1 million people have been evacuated from rural areas in the southern province of Sindh, but many do not have enough food or clean water. The entire Swat valley in north-west Pakistan has been cut off with torrential rain and landslides making it impossible for aid for flood victims to get through by road or helicopter. In the far north of the country, dozens of people were killed when two villages were buried in mud and rocks. Officials said 28 bodies had been recovered and 25 more people were missing after the landslides. Pakistani media reported dozens more flood-related deaths as officials admitted they were struggling to cope. At least 1,600 people have died in the nation's worst deluge in 80 years. Some 14 million people have been affected. The landslides hit two villages in Gilgit-Baltistan province on Saturday, and officials are still trying to recover bodies from under the mud. In another flood-related incident, at least 14 people were killed when a lorry carrying people across a river in Lower Dir province was swept away, according to local media.
News On AIR | August 9, 2010 9:57 AM
Pakistan PM Gilani appeals for Intl help to cope with floods