Breach displaces thousands of Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Tens of thousands of Pakistanis in Sindh province were displaced as floodwaters from a breach near Tori advanced into the Dadu district, officials said.

Runaway waters also may have breached several drains built to divert salt water from Balochistan province and the upper Sindh province, which irrigation experts say could render farmlands in Dadu unusable for years, Pakistan's English-language newspaper Dawn reported Monday.

About 40,000 people reportedly were stranded in 40 villages in Dadu, while officials said villagers elsewhere have been moved to safer locations.

Meanwhile, several Pakistani Americans have started a relief group, Americans for Flood Relief, to help build awareness of Pakistan's flood victims, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Anaheim resident Essam Ulhaq, 25, said the relief organization seeks to increase donations by informing the public about the devastation caused by the monsoon-driven floods -- a situation that has yet to capture the attention of celebrities and the international community, despite warnings about the lack of food, drinking water and shelter.

Reasons for the sluggish international response include the global economic downturn, the slow-moving nature of floods as disasters, and the fewer number of fatalities relative to major earthquakes, the Times said. The death toll in Pakistan is more than 2,000, while the monster earthquake that rocked Haiti in January killed more than 230,000 people.

However, Adil Najam, a global public policy professor at Boston University, told the Times he thinks "the myth of the bad Pakistan" has tempered financial help.

"In Haiti, it was about a child in need," Najam said. "For this flood, it's Pakistanis, it's Muslims."

Najam said a general mistrust of Pakistan's government fueled the fundraising crisis as well.

"The government's credibility is so low that no one wants to give through them," he said