Pakistan floods kill 455, affect 5 million

Monsoon floods in Pakistan have killed 455 people over the past five weeks and affected more than five million, according to the latest figures from the government's disaster relief agency. Pakistan suffered devastating floods in the past two years, including the worst in its history in 2010 when catastrophic inundations across the country killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million. As in the previous two years, most of those hit by the latest floods were in Sindh province, where the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said more than three million have been affected, with 890,000 in Punjab and nearly a million in Baluchistan. More than 260,000 people around the country have sought shelter in relief camps since early September, though this figure is down from the 290,000 reported by NDMA two and a half weeks ago. The data published by NDMA on Monday said more than 1.1 million acres (450,000 hectares) of crops were affected by the floods. text he