Children's misery as floods ebb away

Floodwaters that have devastated Pakistan for five weeks headed to the Arabian Sea yesterday after swallowing two final towns, but the challenges of delivering emergency aid to 8 million people remained.

The floods have moved down from the mountainous north-west, submerging or affecting almost a fifth of the country at their peak. Waters have begun to recede in the north and in Punjab, but they have submerged towns in southern Sindh province, close to the Indus River, over the last 10 days.

The scale of the disaster has raised concerns about the stability of nuclear-armed Pakistan, which is already reeling under al-Qaida and Taliban violence and massive economic woes.

The UN warned that additional funding for emergency food was urgently needed to ensure supplies into next month.

The country’s reconstruction will cost billions and take years. An estimated one million homes have been damaged or destroyed, five times as many as were hit by this year’s earthquake in Haiti.

Picture: Mohammad Sajjad/AP.