Aid disrupted as Pakistan floods hit 12m

STORMY weather grounded helicopters carrying emergency supplies to Pakistan's flood-ravaged north-west yesterday, as authorities said 12 million people had been affected and 650,000 houses destroyed in the disaster.

• A mother screams as her child is evacuated from the roof of a mosque.

United States military personnel waiting to fly Chinooks to stranded communities in the upper reaches of the hard-hit Swat Valley were frustrated by the storms, which dumped more rain on a region where many thousands are living in tents or crammed into public buildings.

Over the past week, floods triggered by monsoon rains have spread from the northwest down Pakistan, killing around 1,500 people.

About 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are rebuilding bridges, delivering food and setting up relief camps in the north-west, which is the main battleground in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban. Foreign countries and the United Nations have donated millions of dollars.

Nadim Ahmed, the head of the National Disaster Management Authority, said 12 million people had so far been affected by the floods and 650,000 houses destroyed over 50,965 square miles, making this a bigger disaster than the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, though far less deadly.

In a televised address to the nation, Prime Minister Raza Yousuf Gilani said it was the worst flooding in Pakistan's 63-year history.

Mr Ahmed did not clarify what he meant by "affected", though the figure is understood to include those who may have experiencing only minor floods. The United Nations earlier said that more than four million people had been affected, but it normally bases its figures on government data. Officials from the world body were not available for comment last night.

Islamist charities are also helping in the relief effort, including the Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, which Western officials believe is linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The group has been subject to a ban, but that has been challenged in court and patchily enforced.

Foundation head Hafiz Abdur Rauf said the assistance of the US Army was welcome. "This is a difficult situation for us. Every helping hand and donation is welcome," he said. His group is running 12 medical facilities and providing cooked food for 100,000 people every day, he said. The foundation helped after the Kashmir earthquake under a different name.

The government has been criticised for not doing enough, especially as President Asif Ali Zardari went ahead with a trip to Europe at the height of the crisis.

In the Sukkur area of Sindh, in southern Pakistan, 70 villages had been flooded over the last 24 hours, the navy said.

"Floods killed our people, they have ruined our homes and even washed away the graves of our loved ones. Yet we are here without help from the government," said Mai Sahat, a 35-year-old women looking over a flooded landscape where her village used to be.

Saleh Farooqi, head of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority in Sindh, said authorities had evacuated about 200,000 people from areas where floodwaters could hit, but many more were still in the danger zone. "About 500,000 people living near the Indus River do not realize the gravity of the situation, and they do not know how fast the water is rushing to their areas," he said.

All helicopters stationed in the north-west were grounded because of poor weather, said Amal Masud, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Authority.

About 85 US military personnel are taking part in relief activities with six helicopters flown in from Afghanistan, where some 100,000 American troops are based battling the Taliban.