Asia in storms chaos
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Floods and landslides across Asia plunged millions into misery yesterday as 4 million Pakistanis faced food shortages amid their country's worst flooding.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, rescuers raced to find 500 people still missing in flash floods that have already killed 132, while North Korea's state media said high waters had destroyed thousands of homes and damaged crops.
In Pakistan, more than 1,500 people have been killed and millions more left begging for help following the worst floods in the country's history. Prices of fruit and vegetable skyrocketed, with more than 405,000 hectares of crops destroyed and at least 4 million people in need of food assistance in the coming months.
The latest deaths included at least 53 people killed on Saturday when landslides buried two villages in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan, a government official said.
Pakistan has worked with international partners to rescue more than 100,000 people and provide food and shelter to thousands more. But the government has struggled to cope with the scale of a disaster that it estimates has affected 13 million people and could get worse after heavy rains lashed Pakistan again yesterday.
At least 570,000 hectares of crops were destroyed in the central province of Punjab, the breadbasket for the rest of Pakistan, the United Nations reported. Many more crops were devastated in the northwest, where destruction from the floods has been most severe and many residents are still trying to recover from intense battles between the Taliban and the army last year.
The UN special envoy for the disaster, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said billions of dollars would be needed to help Pakistan recover, but funds could be difficult to procure amid the global financial crisis.
In neighboring India, rescuers dug through crushed homes and piles of mud searching for 500 people still missing after flash floods sent massive mudslides down mountainsides in Kashmir, officials said. The death toll rose to 132 with about 500 others injured. The dead included at least five foreign tourists.
Thousands of army, police and paramilitary soldiers were also clearing roads to reach isolated villages in the Ladakh region cut off by Friday's thunderstorms. About 2,000 tourists were in the area, a popular destination for adventure sports enthusiasts, when the storm hit.
North Korea's state media said 14,850 hectares of farmland were submerged and 5,500 homes destroyed or flooded after recent heavy rains.
