Flooded Pakistan battles to avoid disease

Via BBC News :

" Concerns are growing for survivors of flooding in north-west Pakistan after the heaviest rains in a generation killed at least 1,100 people.

There are reports of diarrhoea and cholera among the hundreds of thousands left homeless, and food and potable water are in short supply.

Pakistan's military is helping with the rescue effort, and the US has announced $10m (£6.4m) in emergency aid.

Floodwaters are receding in some areas, but more rain is now forecast.

Part of the main north-south motorway into the region was reopened on Sunday, before reportedly closing again. The brief opening allowed some aid supplies into the flooded area while also permitting people to flee.

The BBC's Aleem Maqbool, in the capital Islamabad, says officials there fear that once access to affected areas improves, the full picture will show that the situation is much worse than is so far known.

'Contaminated wells'

The information minister of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa (formerly North West Frontier Province), one of the worst-hit provinces, said 1.5 million people had been affected by the floods and landslides.

"We are receiving information about the loss of life and property caused by the floods all over the province," Mian Iftikhar Hussain told the AFP news agency."