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Pakistani floods: A man-made not a natural disaster

Wed, 08/25/2010 - 11:06 — Dave Culver
Section(s): 
Foreign Affairs


The tragedy unfolding in Pakistan as a result of the country’s worst floods in 80 years is a devastating indictment not only of the present Pakistani government, but of its international allies—the US in particular—and the profit system as a whole.

Wije Dias, World Socialist Web Site

The tragedy unfolding in Pakistan as a result of the country’s worst floods in 80 years is a devastating indictment not only of the present Pakistani government, but of its international allies—the US in particular—and the profit system as a whole. While the torrential rains have been caused by natural forces, the human disaster has been compounded by decades of government neglect and the lack of planning and infrastructure.

National Disaster Management Authority head Nadim Ahmed yesterday put the number of people affected so far at 12 million, with 650,000 homes destroyed over some 132,000 square kilometres. The official death toll is 1,500 and rising. Hundreds of thousands of people are still stranded without shelter or supplies of food and clean water.

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