Pakistani villagers hit by floods riot after little or no help arrives

Last Updated: Saturday, June 30, 2007 | 11:52 PM ET

CBC News

Victims of monsoon floods in southwest Pakistan rioted Friday, protesting the slow arrival of meagre aid to their villages.

Villagers flee after their homes were destroyed by flood in Pakistan's tribal area of Khyber, near the Afghanistan border, Friday.
(Mohammad Zubair/Associated Press)

Police attempted to contain the crowd of several thousand in Turbat with tear gas and shots fired into the air, but with little effect. Earlier in the day, the crowds broke into and ransacked the mayor's office.

The protests come after Cyclone Yemyin dumped torrential rains in the area on Tuesday, causing widespread flooding.

Military helicopters continue to drop relief supplies, but many of the more than 800,000 people affected by the flooding in southwest Pakistan appeared to have received little or nothing.

Turbat city and surrounding villages were among the hardest-hit areas, with more than 200,000 houses destroyed or damaged. Relief supplies began arriving only on Thursday. This 48-hour delay drove the mayor to resign and angry residents to protest.

"We have been saved from the flood, but we may die of starvation," said Mohammed Kash, a teacher at a rural school.

Protesters said they had waded through chest-deep water from outlying areas to voice their anger about the shortage of relief aid. They said they received only packets of biscuits and bottles of water.

Deadly monsoon season

The government said the official death toll in Baluchistan province was 14, with more than 24 missing. Local media reported much higher numbers.

"Every family is looking for one or two members. They are all missing," said Chaker Baloth, who walked more than 40 kilometres to reach the protests.

Accurate figures were not available because of widespread communications disruptions in stricken areas, said Farqooq Ahmed Khan, head of the National Disaster Management Authority.

Khan told reporters in Islamabad that the military had rescued about 1,600 people, including 600 fishermen in the Arabian Sea.

Twenty people died in flash floods Thursday in the northwestern Khyber Agency tribal region, said government official Ilyas Khan.

Floods that damaged several bridges in the region have forced the temporary suspension of the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees through the North-West Frontier Province, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday. More than two million Afghans still live in camps along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

The floods have also ravaged four provinces in neighbouring Afghanistan, causing at least four deaths, a NATO statement said.

The monsoon storms have also claimed more than 120 lives in neigbouring India.