PAKISTAN: Flood havoc kills over 110 in north

ISLAMABAD, 7 August 2006 (IRIN) - At least 110 people are dead after flooding in Pakistan's North West Frontier province (NWFP) and parts of Pakistani-administered Kashmir caused by heavy rains in the area. In one incident, a bridge collapsed on Saturday in the city of Mardan, 65 km from Peshawar, capital of NWFP, killing at least 100 people, police in the city said. An estimated 150 people had gathered on the bridge to watch surging floodwaters below when it was swept away. Many are still missing. Many of the bodies were trapped beneath the rubble of the bridge for hours as rescuers had little heavy lifting equipment. Most of Mardan remained flooded on Monday. “Almost 60 percent of the city is under water,” said a police official, adding that most residents of the city were without electricity. In a separate incident in Lower Dir district in NWFP, nine people, including six children, were killed when flash floods swept away a college, local media reported on Monday. A month of heavy rain in NWFP, Pakistani-administered Kashmir and the eastern province of Punjab has lifted river and watercourse levels. Other parts of Pakistan are under threat. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz placed the Pakistani army on high alert on Sunday, following reports of high water levels in the Indus River, that runs the length of the South Asian nation. "The danger of floods is very real due to continuing rain," Aziz said in the capital, Islamabad. Rising water levels meant people were being evacuated from the Nowshera, Mardan, Besham and Chaunsa districts of NWFP. Abdul Wali Yousafzai, coordinator of NWFP’s flood relief cell, said on Monday that there was "much flooding in the Charsadda District and that several rivers were overflowing”. The flooding was impacting on areas already badly affected by the 8 October, 2005 earthquake that killed at least 73,000 people and left more than three million homeless. “We are asking and assisting people to leave these [quake] areas as rains look to continue for weeks,” Deputy Police Superintendent Muhammad Khalid Khan said from Balakot, one of the towns in NWFP worst hit by the flooding. Earthquake relief camps that were closed in March had been reopened to help people escaping the rising waters in NWFP. The military had been helping people hit by landslides and flash floods to move to safer locations. Pakistan's Metrological Office has predicted more heavy rain over the next three days.