Flood recovery will take years: Zardari
Recovering from the devastating floods still battering Pakistan will take at least three years, the president said, as the waters swept south after leaving millions homeless and submerging millions of acres of farmland.
The floods that began nearly a month ago with hammering monsoon rains in the northwest have affected more than 17 million people, the UN estimates. Most of the 1,500 deaths occurred early in the flooding, but the crisis still is growing.
President Asif Ali Zardari defended the government's much-criticized response to the unprecedented floods but acknowledged recovery would take a very long time.
"Three years is a minimum," Zardari said in an interview Monday with a small group of foreign reporters in the capital, Islamabad.
Meanwhile, Pakistan faces a critical risk of yet more flooding in the next three days in its fertile southern plains, officials warned yesterday, as a major river threatened to burst its banks.
The worst natural disaster in the country's history has already affected 20 million people in nearly a month of flooding triggered by heavy monsoon rain, and left 1,500 dead by official count.
Five million people have been made homeless across the country but that figure could surge higher if the swollen Indus river, whose fast-moving waters are piling pressure on sagging embankments, continues to fill up.
The widespread misery caused by the floods has triggered worries about social unrest, food riots or even a challenge to the government's rule before its term ends in 2013.
Local charities, the Pakistani army and international agencies are providing food, water, medicine and shelter to the displaced, but millions have received little or no help. Aid officials warn that widespread outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera now pose a threat.
On Tuesday, officials announced that the government would give 20,000 rupees ($230) to every family affected by the floods, with a statement from Zardari's spokesman calling the payment "initial assistance."
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