The British public has so far donated £10.5m to help the victims of the Pakistan floods, charities say.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said more than 500,000 survivors had been provided with emergency care, clean water, food or shelter.
At least 1,600 people have died and many more are missing in Pakistan's worst floods for 80 years.
DEC agencies are warning that six million children could be at risk of malnutrition, diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Flood waters are rushing through the densely populated urban areas of Sindh province and southern Punjab.
Mohammed Qazilbash, Save the Children's spokesperson in Islamabad said: "Outbreaks of cholera and malaria are a big concern. In Southern Punjab and Sindh there are vast numbers of people living right along the water, some in makeshift houses with very poor hygiene and sanitation at the best of times.
"Children are drinking, washing in and going to the toilet in the same river water. If this sanitation crisis is not tackled now, in six months time, millions and millions of children will be suffering potentially deadly diarrhoea and other diseases."
There are also reports of measles outbreaks among children in camps set up for the estimated 14 million people displaced.
Meanwhile, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari has visited a relief camp for flood victims in Sindh, in his first visit to areas hit by the deluge.
The trip follows criticism of his recent tour abroad and of the perceived slow government response to the country's worst humanitarian crisis.
No comments:
Post a Comment