The United States is rushing helicopters, boats, bridges, water units and other supplies to flood-hit Pakistan as part of an initial $10-million aid pledge, the government said yesterday.
“The Pakistani people are friends and partners, and the United States is standing with them as the tragic human toll mounts from flooding in northwest Pakistan,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.
More than 1,100 people have been killed by monsoon rains, flash floods and landslides in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and at least another 47 have died in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, officials say.
Up to one million people have been affected, according to the United Nations, with thousands of homes and vast areas of farmland destroyed in a region of Pakistan reeling from years of extremist bloodshed.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have lost loved ones or have been displaced from their homes – and we are taking action to help,” said Mrs Clinton.