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| India-Pakistan |
| Looters exploit flood misery |
| 2010-08-14 |
| Armed bandits are exacerbating the misery of Pakistan's massive floods, stealing cattle and food from survivors fleeing the country's worst humanitarian crisis, witnesses said on Friday. UN officials have warned that the extent of the losses to the infrastructure and economy will put the country back years. The US has increased its aid to $76 million and said that Senator John Kerry would visit the country next week to raise public awareness and drum up donations for the ally. President Asif Ali Zardari, who Thursday visited flood victims for the first time, has cut back a scheduled visit to Russia next week to less than a day because of the crisis, his office announced. Political pressure has been building on the unpopular president from the powerful opposition and the general public after he failed to cut short a visit to Europe last week in order to deal personally with the crisis. But in the village of Karampur outside the city of Sukkur, local residents waded through stagnant floodwaters up to their chest, retrieving valuables and lashing out at the government for failing to protect them from looters. Some villagers said that they preferred to guard their flooded homes while sending their wives and children to safety. Others said they had been looted while trying to flee during chaotic scenes. "There was nobody to rescue us from the floods and now there's nobody to save us from bandits. We were waiting for help when armed men came and seized our belongings at gunpoint," said Abdul Karim, 20. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 I wonder if Looty was there stealing beer? |
| Posted by: Jefferson 2010-08-14 15:52 |
| #2 Armed bandits are exacerbating the misery of Pakistan... Is, ever was, ever will be. |
| Posted by: Spot 2010-08-14 11:40 |
| #1 What the media isn't telling you is that much of the flooding is hundreds of miles downstream from where the rains fell and a competent authority would have known several days in advance, but this is Pakistan where inshallah rules. map of flood areas |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-08-14 05:24 |