At least 17 flood victims, including nine children, have died from disease and hunger in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, officials and media reports said on Tuesday. Authorities have struggled to supply food, clean water, shelter and medicine to many of the more than 17 million people displaced by the worst floods the county has ever seen. UN aid organizations are also assisting in relief activities, but the process has been slow. Khair Mohammad Kaloro, director of operations at Sindh’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority, confirmed “there have been some deaths because of gastroenteritis” but downplayed the risk of a major outbreak of waterborne diseases. “There are more than 2,800 government—run relief camps where 900,000 people are staying,” Mr. Kaloro said. “We are providing them medical aid. Those who died were carrying these diseases when they reached the camps. They did not get these diseases at the camps.” UNICEF said eight-million children have been affected by the flooding and 3.5 million of them are in need of immediate aid to survive the catastrophe. Doctors Without Borders warned of more deaths and infections caused by dirty water. But in many other areas, the return of survivors to destroyed and damaged homes and swamped streets would be a difficult process. Pakistan has estimated that rebuilding infrastructure and helping flood victims with the recovery would require billions of dollars. The United Nations has so far received 325 million dollars after a 460—million—dollar aid appeal. The international community has also made direct donations and pledges to Pakistan, taking the total funds to one billion dollars.
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