Pakistan floods affect more people than 2004 tsunami: UN

A UN official said Monday that the Pakistani floods have affected more people than the Indian Ocean tsunami did in 2004.
'In terms of people affected, this flood is worse than the tsunami,' Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told DPA.
'Our assessment is based on figures provided by the NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) - 13.8 million affected - that is more than the people affected in the tsunami. The people affected by the tsunami were five million,' he said in a telephone interview. 'Out of 13.8 million, not all are severely affected but most of them are.'
The floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains submerged villages, washed away bridges and killed over 1,600 people in the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa last week.
The water then devastated large areas in the central province of Punjab and caused havoc in the southern province of Sindh.

Karachi threatened by floods
PAKISTAN'S biggest city and commercial hub, Karachi, is in danger of being inundated by the country's worst-ever floods amid warnings that the cost of relief and rehabilitation will damage the fragile national economy.
Floods have washed away hundreds of thousands of homes, crops and livestock and caused huge damage to infrastructure including bridges, roads, government buildings and electricity supplies. Reconstruction is likely to cost billions, the United Nations says.
More heavy monsoon rains are forecast and the meteorological department has warned of flooding in Karachi, Hyderabad and other cities.
At least 1600 people have been killed but there are warnings the toll could rise well above 2000.About 15 million people have been directly affected by the floods, but the consequences are being felt across the country as food prices rise.