From: ngrjn@milton.u.washington.edu (V Nagarajan)
Subject: More than 600 killed in India, Pakistan floods
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 20:01:00 GMT

Copyright 1992 by UPI


	ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (UPI) -- Thousands of people fled to high ground
and rescue workers searched for stranded survivors Friday after heavy
monsoon rains in the northwestern Himalayas touched off floods and
mudslides that killed more than 600 people in India and Pakistan.
	The flooding left 1,200 square miles of fertile river bottom land
under water in the Punjab region of Pakistan, and newspapers estimated a
half million people were forced from their homes by the high water. Many
refugees were living in emergency camps opened by the government and
political parties.
	Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of 300 people in the Hazara
region of the North West Frontier Province, 200 people in Punjab and 60
in Azad Kashmir. The independent national newspaper The Muslim said the
final death toll from the flooding in Pakistan could top 1,000.
	Many of the dead were buried alive in landslides triggered by the
rainfall in mountainous northern Pakistan. Official Pakistan television,
describing the losses as ``collosal,'' said flooding swept away 300
villages on the flatlands near Jhelum town on the Jhelum River in Punjab
southeast of the capital.
	The government has declared an emergency in the rain-swamped areas.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered army troops to take charge of the
rescue operations because the civilian administration lacked the
resources to cope with the disaster.
	Officials in New Delhi said flooding in the Kashmir region of India
killed at least 70 people and left more than 600,000 residents stranded
because of the rising rivers. The Indian military began rescue
operations in Kashmir, with helicopters and airplanes dropping food
packages to marooned citizens.
	The surging floodwaters reportedly knocked down power and
telecommunications lines and damaged highways. The main highway linking
Indian Kashmir's two largest cities, Srinagar and Jammu, was closed to
traffic, Indian officials said.
	Dozens more people were said to be dead other northwestern areas of
India, which have been battered by heavy monsoon rains throughout the
week. Many of the same rivers that water Pakistani Punjab also flow
across the Indian northwest, which also was hit by flooding.
	Pakistani Agriculture Minister Majeed Malik said the heavy rain and
floods had wiped out 50 percent of the country's cotton crop. Cotton is
the main cash crop in Pakistan and had been ready for harvest at the
time of the flooding.
	The rains began Tuesday night and continued until Thursday morning.
Although the rain stopped Thursday morning, Pakistan television said the
floodwaters were still moving down the five main rivers that water the
fertile flood plain of the Punjab.
	Radio Pakistan said water had crossed the danger level and was still
rising in all the rivers of Punjab. The radio continued broadcasting
warnings Friday for people living in Punjab to move to higher ground
because of the flooding. Authorities began broadcasting the messages
Thursday night.
	``The flood control centers in Punjab have recorded very high
flooding in all its five rivers,'' the radio said. ``Please move to
safer and higher places away from the rivers.''
	About 120 million people live in the densely populated province.

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