ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Waterborne diseases have combined the miseries of flood-ravaged Pakistan, where humanitarian workers on Saturday supported the first case of cholera.
Floodwaters continue to threaten the southern parts of the country, with the latest surge of high flood in the River Indus making more desolation in Punjab and Sindh provinces. And in a televised speech early Saturday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said that 20 million people — about one-ninth of the population — had been affected by the disaster.
“I appeal to the world community to extend a helping hand,” Mr. Gilani said as Pakistani officials toned down Independence Day celebrations. Mr. Gilani put the official death toll at 1,384 people. That figure is likely to rise as diseases threaten the flooded regions.
The first case of cholera was confirmed in Swat valley in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province, according to aid workers. Health officials in Punjab also accounted cases in a distant district of Rajanpur, which was ravaged by more in flood on Saturday.
The Pakistani government had not affirmed any subjects of cholera, said Maurizio Giuliano, a United Nations spokesman. But he told that rather than examining for cholera, health workers were dealing the thousands of cases of acute diarrhea as the disease itself.
A hospital in Rajanpur, where the water was five to six feet high, accounted that acute gastroenteritis was airing, with 60 percent of the cases affecting children.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who came under big criticism for a alien trip while the country grappled with the disaster, visited the affected city of Nowshera in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. He also promised the government would reconstruct homes.
“We are with you,” Mr. Zardari told survivors at a relief camp in Nowshera, according to Reuters. “Pakistan is with you, and the people of Pakistan are with you.”
In Islamabad, Prime Minister Gilani met with the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif as both leaders answered to help those regarded. But Mr. Gilani said that the country’s infrastructure had been poorly affected.
He said that the flooding had caused “destruction at such a huge level” that to the victims’ point of view, the “government help looks insufficient.”
American aircraft have rescued more than 4,000 people since Aug. 5, and the Pentagon declared Friday that ships conveying more relief supplies and helicopters had left the East Coast and would come in the waters off Pakistan in late September.
Floodwaters continue to threaten the southern parts of the country, with the latest surge of high flood in the River Indus making more desolation in Punjab and Sindh provinces. And in a televised speech early Saturday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said that 20 million people — about one-ninth of the population — had been affected by the disaster.
“I appeal to the world community to extend a helping hand,” Mr. Gilani said as Pakistani officials toned down Independence Day celebrations. Mr. Gilani put the official death toll at 1,384 people. That figure is likely to rise as diseases threaten the flooded regions.
The first case of cholera was confirmed in Swat valley in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province, according to aid workers. Health officials in Punjab also accounted cases in a distant district of Rajanpur, which was ravaged by more in flood on Saturday.
The Pakistani government had not affirmed any subjects of cholera, said Maurizio Giuliano, a United Nations spokesman. But he told that rather than examining for cholera, health workers were dealing the thousands of cases of acute diarrhea as the disease itself.
A hospital in Rajanpur, where the water was five to six feet high, accounted that acute gastroenteritis was airing, with 60 percent of the cases affecting children.
President Asif Ali Zardari, who came under big criticism for a alien trip while the country grappled with the disaster, visited the affected city of Nowshera in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province. He also promised the government would reconstruct homes.
“We are with you,” Mr. Zardari told survivors at a relief camp in Nowshera, according to Reuters. “Pakistan is with you, and the people of Pakistan are with you.”
In Islamabad, Prime Minister Gilani met with the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif as both leaders answered to help those regarded. But Mr. Gilani said that the country’s infrastructure had been poorly affected.
He said that the flooding had caused “destruction at such a huge level” that to the victims’ point of view, the “government help looks insufficient.”
American aircraft have rescued more than 4,000 people since Aug. 5, and the Pentagon declared Friday that ships conveying more relief supplies and helicopters had left the East Coast and would come in the waters off Pakistan in late September.
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