Aid pleas after Pakistan cyclone

A submerged mosque in Turbat district Enlarge Image

Some 800,000 people have now been hit by flooding in Pakistan's Balochistan province, with hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed, officials say.

Many of them are without electricity or drinking water four days after a cyclone hit coastal districts.

Eyewitnesses say there is almost no sign of government relief getting to the affected areas.

Police have fired tear gas on hundreds of angry protesters in the city of Turbat who were demanding help.

See a detailed map of the region

The central government has confirmed 14 deaths and 24 people missing in Balochistan since Tuesday, but other reports but the figure much higher.

Officials further north in the Khyber agency bordering Afghanistan say nearly 70 people have been killed.

In Afghanistan, more than 80 people have died in recent days.

'Terrible stench'

The BBC's Ilyas Khan in Turbat district says much of the area is completely devastated, with trees uprooted, electricity wires down and roads destroyed.

The worst damage was caused by waters overrunning from the Mirani dam, some 45km (30 miles) south-west of Turbat.

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He says that only buildings made of cement blocks have survived, but most people living in mud-brick houses have seen their homes destroyed.

Everywhere is the terrible stench of rotting animal carcasses, he says.

People have been taking shelter in schools and mosques.

The rains have subsided, but many people have been wading through the waters in temperatures of around 40C to try and retrieve possessions from the wreckages of their homes before they are stolen.

Possessions have been swept away

The water in hand-drawn wells has been rendered undrinkable by the floods.

Tube wells, that need electricity to pump the water from deeper down, are not working because of the power failures.

The military has been sending relief supplies by helicopter and has been trying to use C130 planes which have had problems finding places to land.

But our correspondent says that he has yet to meet anyone who has received supplies.

A large crowd of homeless people stormed the district offices in the centre of Turbat city, breaking into the police offices.

Police fired tear gas to disperse them. A deputy police chief and three of the protesters were injured.

"Our homes have been destroyed, there has been no drinking water and no food for the last four days," one protester, Ghulam Jan, said, the AFP news agency reports.

The authorities say they have two relief camps established in Balochistan and should have three more set up in the next two days.

India alert

The flooding is causing havoc in many other parts of Pakistan.

Much of the country's biggest city, Karachi, is still without electricity after severe weather there left more than 200 people dead last weekend.

Last weekend more than 200 people were killed in Pakistan's biggest city, Karachi, by floods and high winds.

In India more than 140 were killed.

Meanwhile, thousands of people in the eastern Indian state of Orissa are being evacuated from their homes to escape a new storm approaching from the Bay of Bengal.

An official from the Indian cyclone warning centre said the storm was very close to the town of Puri in Orissa.

Ten districts in the state have been placed on high alert.

Officials said thousands of schools had been converted into cyclone shelters.

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