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Pakistan floods test cash-strapped gov't

by Reuters
Monday, 12 September 2011 08:01 GMT

* Unpopular government faces another test

* Families flee flood-hit areas

* Vital agriculture sector hit (Adds quote from flood victim, analyst)

By Hamid Shaikh

HYDERABAD, Pakistan, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Pakistan's cash-strapped government, still struggling to help victims of last year's epic floods, could face another major test as monsoon rains sweep across Sindh province in the south.

"The situation in Sindh is already serious and there will be more flooding and more problems because of these rains," said meteorology department official Arif Mehmood.

"We have alerted all relevant government agencies dealing with the flood situation."

Flooding has killed about 200 people, destroyed or damaged nearly one million houses and flooded 4.2 million acres of land since late August , according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

At least 400 people, mostly women and children, have fled flood-hit areas to the city of Hyderabad in Sindh, without any assistance from the government, in scenes reminiscent of last year's natural disaster.

"In our villages, there is at times eight to 10 feet of water and other places three to five feet. Our livelihood is gone, animals have died," said Azmat Kaloi, a 50-year-old mother of four.

"Forget food, the government has not even been able to provide us with drinking water. We sold everything we have and just came here to save our lives."

Prospects for further flood damage would put Pakistan's civilian government, already battling Taliban militants, allegations of widespread corruption and growing public anger over power cuts, under immense pressure.

Pakistan's far more decisive military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its history, took charge of rescue and relief operations during last year's floods, while the government was heavily criticised as slow and ineffective.

Still, more than a year later, over 800,000 families remain without permanent shelter, according to aid group Oxfam, and more than a million people need food assistance, mostly in Sindh.

Political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said the government is making the same mistakes again.

"Unless the problem hits them in the face, they are never prepared. The typical response is to ignore the problem, and when it becomes acute, they respond in a haphazard manner," he said.

"The government has over time lost its capacity to fulfil its primary obligations to the citizens."

Pakistan's weak economy may soon be squeezed by floods again.

Pakistan may also have lost up to two million cotton bales, or about 13 percent of its estimated crop, due to heavy monsoon rains during harvesting in major cotton producing region Sindh, government and industry officials said.

Monsoon rains sweep the subcontinent from June to September and are crucial for agriculture in the region.

The South Asian nation, which relies heavily on foreign aid and an IMF emergency loan package, cannot afford heavy losses in the agriculture sector, a pillar of the economy.

Last year, the cotton output fell to 11.70 million bales against a target of 14 million bales due to 2010's floods.

The losses in the cotton crop were among the reasons Pakistan's economic growth that year slipped to 2.4 percent from the original target of 4.5 percent.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has already appealed for international help to cope with the latest floods.

Pakistan is still haunted by memories of the 2010 floods which killed about 2,000 people and made 11 million homeless in one of the country's worst natural disasters.

One-fifth of Pakistan was then submerged in water -- an area the size of Italy -- and the government faced ${esc.dollar}10 billion in damages to irrigation systems, bridges, houses and roads. (Reporting by Zeeshan Haider and Qasim Nauman in Islamabad Writing by Michael Georgy; Editing by Ed Lane)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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