The damage caused by nearly a month of severe flooding in Pakistan will take years to fix, the country’s president said.
“Three years is a minimum,” President Asif Ali Zardari told the media Monday.
Zardari’s comments were echoed by members of a U.S. State Department delegation that visited the flood zones in Pakistan last week.
At a press briefing Monday, Dan Feldman, a deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, called the destruction “epic” and “staggering.”
On Tuesday, Pakistani officials said flood victims would receive 20,000 rupees ($230) as “initial assistance,” The Associated Press reports.
The U.N. estimates the death toll at 1,500 people with more than 17 million more affected, including nearly four million people left homeless, by the worst flooding in Pakistan’s history.
And the flooding is expected to worsen.
The need for emergency aid was increasing, UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said, adding that, “The floods are outrunning our relief efforts.
“We move faster and faster, but the finish line keeps moving further ahead,” he said.
Heavy monsoon rains in northwest Pakistan have put farms, roads and bridges underwater, crippling nearly one-fifth of the country.
Relief and money have been slow to reach the flooded areas, prompting widespread criticism of the Pakistani government.
The U.N. says it has received 70% of the $460 million it has asked for in relief funds.
Disease outbreaks and food shortages have triggered fears of violent protests against the government, as well as attacks by Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents, who may use the crisis as a recruiting tool, according to Zardari.
“The fight goes on, on all fronts,” Zardari said of his country’s campaign against Islamist militants. “You don’t give up.”
With News Wire Services
