A Pakistani man carries relief goods in flood hit Muzaffargarh district, Punjab province, Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010.Aaron Favila
More than four million Pakistanis have been made homeless by nearly three weeks of floods, the United Nations said on Thursday, making the critical task of securing greater amounts of aid more urgent.
The UN had earlier said that two million people had lost their homes in the worst floods in Pakistan's history.
Aid agencies have been pushing for more funding as they try to tackle major problems such as food supplies, lack of clean water and shelter and outbreaks of disease.
The economic costs of the floods are expected to run into the billions of dollars, stepping up pressure on Pakistan's government just after it had made progress in stabilizing the country through security offensives against Taliban insurgents.
Floods have ruined crops over an estimated area of more than 1.6 million acres, hammering the mainstay agriculture industry.
Flood victims are turning on each other as aid is handed out. The elderly sometimes take food from children as anger rises over the government's perceived sluggish response to the crisis. In the small town of Alipur in the agricultural heartland Punjab province, troops and police with batons charged flood victims trying to grab food unloaded from a helicopter.
Villages were totally submerged and in many places people were stranded either on rooftops or high ground. Some waved empty pots and pans at a military helicopter, wondering, like millions of others, when food supplies will arrive.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will attend a special session of the UN General Assembly Thursday to discuss the flooding in Pakistan.
He says the session will be a chance to co-ordinate the international response and to ensure help is provided efficiently and effectively.
Canada has so far committed up to $33-million in humanitarian assistance and equipment to the people of Pakistan.
On Tuesday, a Canadian aid flight arrived in Islamabad with 1,000 all-weather tents and other gear to help the ongoing emergency relief operations.
The U.S., Germany and Saudi Arabia all announced new pledges of aid on Thursday, while Japan said it would send helicopters to help distribute food, water and medicine. The Asian Development Bank said it would redirect $2-billion of existing and planned loans for reconstruction.
"The extent of human suffering caused by the floods cannot be easily quantified, nor can the damage wrought upon the country's physical and social infrastructure," Juan Miranda, ADB director-general for its Central and West Asia department, said in a statement.
"But what is clear is that this disaster is like no other in living memory - and that our response must also be unprecedented, equal to the need, and fast."
Hundreds of villages are isolated, highways and bridges have been cut in half and hundreds of thousands of cattle - the livelihoods of many villagers - have drowned.
"According to rough estimates, over 4 million people in Sindh and Punjab still do not have a roof on their head," said UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano, referring to southern and central provinces worst hit by the flood. "This situation is of high concern".
Only a small minority of the 6 million Pakistanis desperate for food and clean water have received help after floods that have killed up to 1,600 people.
Many hospitals and medical camps are overwhelmed and fears are rising for possible epidemics.
Aid funding has improved, with nearly half the $459-million needed to fund initial relief efforts secured after days of lobbying donors. But the situation on the ground remained grim.
"The donors are improving their contribution. They are giving more and more. The response of donors to this crisis is getting better and better but it is still inadequate," UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told Reuters Child trafficking is a big business in Pakistan. Mr. Giuliano expressed concern that since the floods have made millions homeless, children were at an even greater risk.
"You may have families who take drastic measures because they need to survive. So even though we don't have any suggestion that it is happening already, this can be a concern," he said.
The armed forces have raised their profile by leading rescue and relief efforts, but analysts don't expect the military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history, to try to stage a coup.
With a file from The Associated Press