Sunday 26 August 2012

Pakistan floods again


Pakistan suffered dreadful floods in 2010, when nearly  2,000 people were killed, and last year, when the death toll was around 250.   Now at least 22 people have been drowned in flash floods in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while at least another 20 have perished across the border in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan in the heaviest rains there for more than 30 years.

Around 20,000 people have been driven from their homes, schools have closed, and transport has been disrupted.   A number of the casualties occurred when buildings collapsed, and rescue workers say they fear more bodies may be found as the waters recede.

The Pakistan floods of 2010 affected up to 20 million people, and left about a fifth of the country under water, while the total cost of the damage inflicted was up to £30 billion.

 (See also my blogs of Aug 11 and 23 and Sept 7, 2010, and Jan 27 and Sept 19, 2011.)

*On this web page, you can read the first chapter of my book Disaster! absolutely free - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/read/2940000926659

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