Authorities battle to save city from floodwaters

Authorities in Pakistan were battling yesterday to save a city in the flood-devastated southern province of Sindh after a mass evacuation as floodwaters threatened to wreak further havoc.

The near month-long floods have killed 1600 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide in the country's worst natural disaster, with the threat of disease ever-present in the miserable camps sheltering penniless survivors.

Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from flood-threatened areas in the south yesterday, including from Shahdadkot, with most of the city's 100,000 residents escorted to safety or making a getaway by whatever means possible.

"We are trying to protect Shahdadkot ... which is threatened by the rising floodwaters," said Sindh provincial irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.

"But there are still some people stranded in these villages [around Shahdadkot] and we are making efforts to rescue them," he said.

Dharejo, however, stressed there was no threat to Hyderabad, the second-largest city in Sindh and Pakistan's sixth biggest overall with a population of 2.5 million.

Pakistan's weak civilian Government has faced an outpouring of fury over sluggish relief efforts, while officials warn the country faces economic losses of up to US$43 billion ($61 billion). Millions of survivors are in desperate need of food, shelter and clean drinking water and require humanitarian assistance to survive, as concerns grow over potential cholera, typhoid and hepatitis outbreaks.

Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Islamabad, said 1.5 million people were being treated for everything from respiratory and skin infections to diarrhoea.

The International Monetary Fund is expected to begin talks with Pakistani officials today on restructuring a US$10 billion loan.

DESPERATE PLIGHT
* More than 4 million people have been made homeless.

* 1600 people have died.

* 1.5 million people are being treated for everything from respiratory and skin infections to diarrhoea.

* More than US$800 million has been donated or pledged to help Pakistan's flood victims.