SUKKUR, Pakistan — The deadly, waterborne disease cholera has surfaced in flood-ravaged Pakistan, the U.N. confirmed Saturday, adding to the misery of 20 million people the government says have been made homeless by the disaster.
Meanwhile, a fresh surge of floodwaters swelled the Indus River, threatening previously spared cities and towns in the south.
The crisis has battered Pakistan’s economy and undermined its political stability at a time when the United States needs its steadfast cooperation against Islamic extremism.
Because of the flooding, Pakistan canceled celebrations Saturday marking its creation and independence from Britain in 1947.
President Asif Ali Zardari met with flood victims in the northwest, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was expected to visit affected regions today.
One case of cholera was confirmed in Mingora, the main town in the northwest’s Swat Valley, U.N. spokesman Maurizio Giuliano said Saturday. Other cases were suspected, and aid workers are responding to all those exhibiting acute watery diarrhea as if it is cholera, Giuliano said.
Cholera can lead to severe dehydration and death without prompt treatment, and containing cholera outbreaks is considered a high priority after floods.
The Pakistani crisis began in late July, when unusually heavy monsoon rains tore through the country from its mountainous northwest. Hundreds of thousands of homes have been destroyed.
Fresh flood waves swelled the River Indus on Saturday, threatening nearby cities, towns and villages in southern Sindh province, said Mohammed Ajmal Shad, a senior meteorologist. The Indus was already more than 15 miles wide at some points Friday — 25 times wider than during normal monsoon seasons.
Ghulam Sarwar said he, his wife and eight children had already fled the town of Thal because of flooding. Overnight, they had to get out of Jacobabad after the fresh warnings.
Now they wait in a small tent relief camp on the edge of the city of Sukkur.
“Our whole world has been ruined by the flood, and the whole of Sindh is drowning,” said Sarwar, 42. “We do not know how long we will have to suffer.”
Toll of the flooding
• About 1,500 people have died, and aid workers have warned that diseases could kill more.
• Agriculture has been severely hit, with an estimated 1.7 million acres of farmland wiped out.
• In a televised address to the nation Saturday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said 20 million people were left homeless.
• The United Nations has appealed for an initial $460 million to provide relief to Pakistan but has said the country will need billions to rebuild once the flood- waters recede.
