PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 1, (Agencies): The death toll from Pakistan’s worst floods in living memory topped 1,100 on Sunday as outbreaks of water-borne disease emerged and penniless survivors sought refuge from the raging torrents.
More than 1,100 people have been killed and over 1.5 million affected by monsoon rains, flash floods and landslides in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and at least another 47 have died in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, officials said.
Thousands of homes and vast swathes of farmland have been destroyed in a region of Pakistan reeling from years of extremist bloodshed.
“The floods have killed more than 1,100 people in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and affected over 1.5 million,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told AFP.
“We are receiving information about the loss of life and property caused by the floods all over the province,” he said, adding that he feared the death toll could rise.
A senior official at the provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) confirmed the toll.
Hussain said more than 3,700 homes had been swept away in the floods, and the number of people made homeless was rising.

Hundreds of survivors sought shelter in schools in Peshawar, the main city in northwest Pakistan, and in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, after escaping the floods with children on their backs.
The US government is rushing helicopters, boats, bridges, water units and other supplies to Pakistan as part of an $10-million aid pledge.
“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.
China, which has also been hit by severe flooding, announced a 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) donation, according to the official Xinhua news agency, which cited a government website.
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said it had airlifted more than 500 stranded people, including six foreigners, as part of relief operations and was carrying out reconnaissance missions to assess the damage to infrastructure.
Floods also ravaged parts of Afghanistan, killing at least 65 people and affecting more than 1,000 families, officials said.
Pakistani television footage and photographs taken from helicopters showed people clinging to the walls and rooftops of damaged houses as water rushed through villages.
Muqaddir Khan, 25, who fled the floods with nine relatives, told AFP in Peshawar that he had lost everything.

“I laboured hard in Saudi Arabia for three years and set up a small shop which was swept away by flooding in minutes,” Khan said.
Pakistan’s weather bureau said the northwest had been hit by an “unprecedented” 312 millimetres (12 inches) of rain in the space of 36 hours.
More than 300 people affected by the floods rallied in Peshawar on Sunday, chanting slogans criticising the provincial government for not providing them with adequate shelter.
“I had built a two-room house on the outskirts of Peshawar with my hard-earned money but I lost it in the floods,” said 53-year-old labourer Ejaz Khan, who joined the rally.
“The government is not helping us... the school building where I sheltered is packed with people, with no adequate arrangement for food and medicine,” Khan told AFP.

Waseyullah, 33, said his two brothers had worked as labourers in Saudi Arabia for the money to build a small furniture factory which he lost in the floods.
“I expect the provincial government to help me financially to rebuild this factory,” he added.
Information Minister Hussain said rescue teams were trying to reach 1,500 tourists stranded in Swat district, which was the scene of a major anti-Taleban offensive last year.
“We are also getting confirmation of reports about an outbreak of cholera in some areas of Swat,” he said.
The army said it had sent boats and helicopters to rescue stranded people and its engineers were trying to open more roads and divert swollen rivers.
In Pakistani Kashmir, officials said army helicopters had been urgently requested in the worst-hit Neelam valley.
“It has been cut off from the rest of Kashmir and we still don’t know how many people are killed, injured and displaced there,” State Disaster Management Authority chief Farooq Niaz said.
However, authorities said they had repaired a damaged portion of the Islamabad-Peshawar motorway to restore the northwest region’s road links with the rest of Pakistan.
The flooding capped a week of tragedy for Pakistan after an airliner crashed into hills near Islamabad on Wednesday, killing all 152 people on board.

The United States announced Sunday that it would provide Pakistan with $10 million in humanitarian assistance, a high-profile gesture at a time when the Obama administration is trying to dampen anti-American sentiment in the country.
The 1,100 death toll from the flooding could go even higher since rescue workers have been unable to access certain areas, said Adnan Khan, a disaster management official.
Almost 700 people have drowned in the Peshawar valley, which includes the districts of Nowshera and Charsadda, and 115 others are still missing, Khan said.
The districts of Swat and Shangla have also been hit hard and have suffered more than 400 deaths, said Mujahid Khan, the head of rescue services for the Edhi Foundation, a private charity.
Residents of Swat were still trying to recover from a major battle between the army and the Taliban last spring that caused widespread destruction and drove some 2 million people from their homes. About 1 million of those were still displaced.

In Swat alone, the floods have destroyed more than 14,600 houses and 22 schools, said Khan.
Authorities have deployed 43 military helicopters and more than 100 boats to try to rescue some 27,300 people still trapped by the floods, said Rehman, the disaster management spokesman.
“All efforts are being used to rescue people stuck in inaccessible areas and all possible help is being provided to affected people,” said Rehman.
But some residents stepped up their criticism Sunday of the government’s response.
“The flood has devastated us all, and I don’t know where my family has gone,” said Hakimullah Khan, a resident of Charsadda town who complained the government has not helped him search for his missing wife and three children.
“Water is all around and there is no help in sight,” said Khan.
The military deployed 30,000 army troops who helped rescue more than 20,700 people, said Khan, the disaster management official.
However, some people like Sehar Ali Shah who were rescued complained that authorities didn’t provide shelter that would allow them to stay until the floodwaters receded.
“My son drowned, but I don’t see the government taking care of us,” said Shah after returning to his half-submerged house in the city of Nowshera. “The government has not managed an alternate place to shift us.”

The flooding has also affected the central Pakistani province of Punjab, where troops rescued more than 1,400 people trapped by rising water, said Brig. Ahmad Waqas.
“We have lost everything: our houses, our crops, cattle,” said Ahmad Hasan at a government relief camp in Taunsa Sharif district.
The threat of disease loomed as well as some evacuees in the northwest arrived in camps with fever, diarrhea and skin problems.
“There is now a real danger of the spread of waterborne diseases like diarrhea, asthma, skin allergies and perhaps cholera in these areas,” said Shaharyar Bangash, the head of operations in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa for World Vision, an international humanitarian group.
A variety of nations and aid organizations have begun to mobilize a response to the disaster.
The US delivered thousands of food packages, four rescue boats and two water-filtration units to the northwest, said Rehman.
“This is much-needed stuff in the flood-affected areas and we need more of it from the international community,” said Rehman.
The US Embassy in Islamabad also announced it will provide 12 prefabricated steel bridges to temporarily replace those damaged by the water.
But some residents wondered how they would ever recover from such a disaster.
“I won’t be able to cover my losses for 10 years,” said Shair Dad, a timber shop owner in Nowshera who lost most of his wood in the floodwaters.