Pages

Friday, August 20, 2010

Severe flooding in Pakistan

It is only the start of the monsoon season, but already Pakistan is experiencing some of the worst flooding it has seen in over 80 years. Entire villages have been washed away, an early estimate of over 1,600 deaths so far and over 2 million displaced or otherwise affected. Not only is the immediate water damage causing havoc, the floods have inundated crop-producing areas, dealing a crippling blow to the agricultural-based economy and threatening a food crisis. The Pakistani government now struggles to rescue and provide aid to millions - while still fighting with militant Islamist forces in many of the hardest-hit regions. With even more heavy rains predicted in the coming days, here are a handful of recent photographs of Pakistanis as they cope with this latest disaster.

1. A boy hangs on to the front of a cargo truck while passing through a flooded road in Risalpur, located in Nowshera District in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province July 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
2. Men take refuge on a boat during heavy rain in Pakistan's Nowshera District on July 29, 2010. (REUTERS/K. Parvez)
3. Residents watch water pour through a street on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan on July 28, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
4. Pakistani villagers move to high ground escaping a flood-hit village near Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
5. Nimra, a three-year-old girl, who was rescued along with her family from Kaalam in the northern area, kisses the window glass of an army helicopter after their arrival at Khuazakhela in Swat district located in Pakistan's northwest Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province on August 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood)
6. Residents watch from a nearby hill as army helicopters rescued trapped residents from Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
7. Residents stand by flood water that entered a residential area of Muzaffarabad, Pakistan on July 30, 2010. (SAJJAD QAYYUM/AFP/Getty Images)
8. An aerial view of a man and his animals surrounded by floodwater in Taunsa near Multan, Pakistan, flooded on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)
9. A Pakistani villager struggles to reach his village through a fast-moving flood water caused by heavy monsoon rain in Bakhtiarabad, 250 km (155 mi) north of Quetta, Pakistan on Friday, July 23, 2010. (AP Photo/Fida Hussain)
10. An aerial view shows Nowshera city submerged in flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
11. A Pakistani volunteer uses a small boat to evacuate locals in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 30, 2010. (A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)
12. Pakistani flood survivors cross a bridge near a damaged home in Medain, a town of Swat valley on August 2, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
13. Pakistan army soldiers pass a baby across a channel in the floodwater as they help people flee from their flooded village following heavy monsoon rains in Taunsa, Pakistan on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)
14. Villagers try to catch trees floating in the flooded Nelum river in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Aftab Ahmed)
15. Residents help a man untie a chicken from his neck after he evacuated his flooded home with the fowl by swimming to higher grounds in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 1, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
16. A family being rescued by army soldiers passes a cargo truck with men on top taking shelter from heavy floods in Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
17. A soldier evacuating residents carries a flood victim to a helicopter in Sanawa, Pakistan's on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
18. A Pakistani boy named Jeeshan stands outside his tent in a camp set up by the Pakistani army inside a college on the outskirts of Nowshera on August 2, 2010. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
19. Pakistani flood survivors line up beside a damaged bridge in Medain, a town of Swat Valley on August 2, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
20. A boy is flung back by the force of a Pakistan Air Force helicopter rotors as it drops water supplies to residents on August 2, 2010 in Nowshera, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
21. Evacuees wade through a flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Saeed Ahmad)
22. People wait to cross a flooded road in Bannu, northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Ijaz Mohammad)
23. A boy walks through flood destroyed homes on August 4, 2010 in Pabbi, near Nowshera, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
24. A family portrait is seen, attached to a bookcase buried in mud on August 4, 2010 in Pabbi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
25. An aerial view of floodwater covering the land as far as the eye can see, around Taunsa near Multan, Pakistan, Sunday, Aug. 1, 2010. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)
26. A flood survivor carries a soaked mat in a flooded area of Nowshera on August 3, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
27. A man gathers up some of his belongings outside his flooded house in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 2, 2010. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)
28. Pakistani women pray at sunset by the Ravi river in Lahore on August 2, 2010. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
29. A boy sits on a bed as his family members salvage belongings from their destroyed house in Pabbi, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood)
30. Flood victims line up to collect relief supplies from the Army in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 2, 2010. Islamist charities, some with suspected ties to militants, stepped in on Monday to provide aid for Pakistanis hit by the worst flooding in memory, piling pressure on a government criticized for its response to the disaster that has so far killed more than 1,000 people. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
31. Flood-affected people jostle for food relief in Nowshera in northwest Pakistan on Friday, Aug. 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
32. A Pakistani worker pushes back flood-stricken women who are trying to enter a relief center to get food supplies on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
33. Families set in for the evening in their makeshift tent homes located on a median strip after having abandoned their flood-destroyed homes, on August 3, 2010 in Pabi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
34. Children, whose families have declined to be rescued, wade in rising flood waters on August 6, 2010 in the village of Panu Akil, near Sukkur, Pakistan. Rescue workers and armed forces continued rescue operations evacuating thousands in Pakistan's heartland province of Sindh. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images)
35. Residents evacuate to safety in a flood-hit area of Nowshera, Pakistan on July 30, 2010. (A. MAJEED/AFP/Getty Images)
36. Onlookers perched on a damaged bridge watch a flood survivor use a rope to cross the river in Chakdara in Pakistan's Swat Valley on August 3, 2010. (STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images)
37. A young flood survivor cools herself with water at a makeshift camp in Nowshera, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP/Getty Images)
38. A man tries to cross a makeshift bridge to escape his flooded home in Nowshera, Pakistan on July 31, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
39. A Pakistan army helicopter evacuates stranded villagers in Nowshera, Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
40. A family takes refuge on top of a mosque while awaiting rescue from flood waters in Sanawa, a town located in the Muzaffar Ghar district of Pakistan's Punjab province on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)
41. A woman yells as her child is evacuated from the roof of a mosque where residents were taking refuge from flood waters in Sanawa, Pakistan on August 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Stringer)