Pakistan will need flood aid for years, says Clegg

The Deputy Prime Minister said the disaster would have a "long tail", with threats from water-borne disease and opportunistic extremists.

Pakistan's economic growth will plunge two per cent because of the floods and lead to "massive" job losses, the prime minister warned.

Yousuf Raza Gilani said one-fifth of the country's irrigation infrastructure, livestock and crops had been destroyed.

After being shown aid camps near the southern town of Sukkur – one of the worst affected regions – Mr Clegg said: "I think the sheer scale of this, it is really quite difficult to comprehend.

"The terrible thing is that it has got a long tail. It has got a lot of aftershocks that are going to last for a long time."

He said the international community's response has been too slow, but praised donations from the British Government and public.

"We have to make a huge effort to provide important emergency aid, but really stick with this for the long term," he said.

Mr Clegg stressed that the flood waters have not drained away in many areas, and there is a "real danger of diseases taking hold".

"It's going to take years and years for normality to come back to Pakistan," he said.

He also warned that the influence of extremist groups could be boosted by the disaster.

"The danger always is that you get groups who have an ulterior motive who provide aid to try to curry favour."

The Deputy Prime Minister toured the Pakistan Air Force flood relief camp at Sukkur, which houses more than 3,000 refugees. He was shown a clinic and chatted with children at a makeshift school, before moving on to the UN World Food Programme distribution base.

At nearby Sukkur airport he received a briefing from aid agencies and met President Asif Ali Zardari, who was also touring the disaster scene.

Mr Clegg discussed the situation with the president, and briefed him on his visit to Afghanistan and talks with President Hamid Karzai.

More details of how the British Government's 64m of aid will be allocated were released to coincide with Mr Clegg's visit.

About 9m is going on items to help the millions displaced, including:

n 2,330 water pumps for safe drinking supplies;

n Emergency shelter kits for 30,500 families;

n Repairing or installing 5,000 toilets;

n Spades, picks and wheelbarrows to help 1,600 families clear debris from their homes;

n 650 kits containing essentials for newborn babies.

The money will be given to charities Save The Children, Concern and Oxfam to source and distribute supplies.

The aid will be targeted at the Punjab and Sindh provinces where the floods have had the worst impact.

Pakistan's prime minister said: "Performance of agriculture consequently will be much lower this year and the year ahead.

"This loss will have a snowball effect on manufacturing, services and export sectors. Food security of the country is also under threat."

Save the Children said it was urging that pregnant and breastfeeding` women, along with children under five, were made a priority for food and medicine.

The charity warned that, a month after the onset of the floods, 2.4 million children under the age of five had still not been reached with food aid.

Foreign countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help Pakistan.

Even the country's arch enemy, India, has offered assistance and announced yesterday that it was increasing its aid from $5m to $25m.

45 killed in raids on militant hideouts

Pakistan army jets and helicopters targeted militant hideouts near the Afghan border, killing 45 people identified as insurgents or members of their families, including women and children, said security officials.

The attacks happened in the Teerah Valley in the Khyber region, where al-Qaida and Taliban militants are known to have found sanctuary.

There was no independent confirmation of the casualty figures because the area is too dangerous for outsiders to visit.

There were few details about the raids, except that they took place in several villages.

One security official said some vehicles rigged with explosives had also been destroyed.

In April, the Teerah Valley was hit by army air strikes which killed about 60 civilians. The army, which initially described the victims as insurgents, ended up paying compensation to their families and its chief issued a rare public apology.

A bomb in Afghanistan's volatile southern city of Kandahar killed the director of an office for facilitating pil-grimages to Islamic holy sites.