AFP reports that Pakistani troops are on a ‘war footing’ in their desperate efforts to save the southern Sindhi city of Thatta from advancing flood waters, as they attempt to repair breaches in levees that have allowed water around the city to rise alarmingly. The 300,000 inhabitants of Thatta have fled, along with 700,000 others in surrounding areas in recent days– that is, a further million is now displaced and homeless, adding to the millions who were already in that situation. The waters are now headed toward the town of Sajawal and have knocked out its electricity plant. Thousands are fleeing.
A string of towns and cities already hit by the floodwaters is sitting empty in the absence of the owners.
Dawn writes that 400,000 of the displaced are gathered in the open in Makli, without shelter, abandoned by the state, and not knowing where their next meal is coming from
The United Nations fears that children are at risk from water-borne diseases, as water-purification processes have broken down with the flooding.
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