The number of villages inundated by water gushing out of breaches in Manchhar lake and the Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain increased to 300 on Sunday after 25 more villages and hamlets in Talti, Bubak, Dal, Paka Channa and other areas of Sehwan and Johi talukas went under water.
About 300,000 people have so far been affected by the flood.
About 35,000 people from five union councils of Sehwan are living in the open along the Indus link canal and the Larkana-Sehwan embankment between Abad village and Karampur. They have complained that they have no tents and no relief goods have been provided to them.
The water level in the lake, meanwhile, dropped by about six inches. An irrigation official said it would take about 35 days for the excess water in the lake to be released into the Indus.
Eight breaches in the lake's embankment have not been plugged and the water gushing from them and the MNV drain was heading towards the Indus link canal near Bhan Syedabad.
The quantity of discharge into the Indus at Karampur was low and a large pond has developed between the canal and the LS embankment.
Residents of Bhan Syedabad, troops and Jamshoro administration personnel were raising the height of the canal's embankment.
The Indus Highway was under nine feet of water from Tando Shahbazi to the link canal near Bhan Syedabad.
The level of the Indus is the same as that of the Aral canal, causing a reverse flow into the lake.
The level in the MNV drain dropped after a breach in its dyke near Zero Point.
Land access to the inundated Bajara town from Sehwan has been restored, but the road to Jhangara, Chhinni and Shah Hassan is cut off.
The water level along the embankments of Mehar, Dadu, Johi and Mehar has dropped.
Khairpur Nathan Shah town was still under seven and a half feet of water and about 3,000 houses had been destroyed.
Affected people of Radhan, Fareedabad, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sita Road, Dadu, Johi, Bhan Syedabad, Chhinni, Sehwan, Jhangara, Bajara, Manjhand and Kotri did not receive Watan Cards because the National Database and Registration Authority has not started registration work in Dadu and Jamshoro districts.
Sametime,Balochistan had been hosting around two million flood affectees and 0.6 million out of them had come from Sindh, mainly from the Jacobabad district. Around 100,000 affectees had arrived in the provincial capital seeking shelter and relief, but according to the local administration, the city is hosting 30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Ironically, the local administration had only registered 30,000 affectees, and there had been no explanation why more affectees were not registered.
"The registration process is very simple, the affectees only had to show their identification card,"
People had started to return to their ancestral towns after the partial restoration of the road link between Jaffarabad and Jacobabad. However, the rail link had been disrupted for the past one month.
the railways activated a special shuttle train to carry over 500 affectees from Quetta to Dera Murad Jamali. Since the railway line beyond Dera Murad Jamali had not been restored, it had been difficult for the railways to operate shuttle train services or regular train service from Quetta to the rest of the country.
UNITED NATIONS.The meeting, which brought together US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and about 25 other top ministers, sought extra resources for the stricken country after the United Nations issued a record two billion dollar emergency appeal.
Clinton said that the United States has now allotted about 340 million dollars in disaster relief to Pakistan. Britain on Sunday doubled its aid to about 200 million dollars and the European Union said it has now contributed 315 million dollars.
Iran said it has now set aside 100 million dollars, China and other countries also announced new financial contributions and emergency food aid, but it was unclear whether it would all add up to the two billion dollars requested.
"We are here because the Pakistan floods are one of the biggest, most complex natural disasters we have faced in the history of the United Nations," Ban told the meeting.
Torrential rain started falling in northern Pakistan in late July and the floods have since been moving slowly south, wiping out villages and farmland.
Ban highlighted that it had affected an estimated 20 million people, with up to 12 million needing urgent humanitarian assistance.
The UN asked for 460 million dollars in August but has been forced to quadruple the figure because of the scope of the disaster.
"This new appeal extends the emergency relief to six months and includes the crucial element of early recovery for the next 12 months. I call for your urgent response," said the UN chief.
"The floods in Pakistan are a global disaster, a global challenge, and a global test of solidarity," he said.
"Of course, we know this is happening in a part of the world where stability and prosperity are profoundly in the world's interests." A special analysis on the impact of the floods is to be prepared for mid-October and the Pakistan government and UN agencies will then outline new long term plans to rebuild the stricken area.
But Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmad, head of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, told the meeting that the country had only 20 per cent of the food and 20 per cent of the water needed for the stricken 20 million people.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the world community should multiply the impact of Hurricane Katrina in the United States in 2005 by 100 times to understand the scope of the devastation.
Clinton said the United States has already provided about 345 million dollars in governmental assistance, through cash, emergency relief supplies and rescue work.
She highlighted the role that Pakistan must play however in becoming self-sufficient and raising more money for reconstruction at home and the need for "transparency" in the use of aid.
"We must better coordinate our efforts. We must be very mindful of what Pakistan says its needs are," Clinton said.
Britain's International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced that his country would add 70 million pounds to its existing 64 million pounds in emergency aid taking the total to about 200 million dollars.
"Grave challenges lie ahead as people in Pakistan begin to recover from the floods," Mitchell said.
"Aid so far has focused on keeping people alive. We need to continue to focus hard on the public health dangers, which remain extremely serious. But we also now need to start helping people to get back on their feet."
Regards
Shoaib Habib Memon
Cell.0314 2090252
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