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Massive floods in Pakistan (16 images)

Flooding brought on by heavy rains in Pakistan is creating a humanitarian and national disaster not seen in generations, a U.N. official said.

Heavy monsoon rains are soaking parts of Asia, triggering massive floods throughout the region. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said more than 1,600 people have died and another 6 million are in need of emergency assistance.

Pakistani authorities said around 2.6 million acres -- around 4,000 square miles -- of crop land are under water and more than 300,000 homes were destroyed.

"Thousands of villages and towns in low-lying areas have not seen flooding on this scale in generations," Andrej Mahecic, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, was quoted by the United Nations as saying.

OCHA said it received more than $44 million for flood relief, with another $91 million pledged. The U.S. Agency for International Development said it was committing another $20 million in financial assistance.

"Our response is consistent with our humanitarian values and our deep commitment to Pakistan," a statement from the U.S. State Department read.

Heavy rain and flooding have cut parts of Pakistan off from the rest of the country, though U.N. agencies said weather conditions have improved.



U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) (L) and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari speak at a joint press conferance at Chaklala Airbase in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on August 19, 2010. UPI/Sajjad Ali Qureshi
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Pakistani civilians wait to board a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter during humanitarian relief efforts in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan on August 18, 2010 after massive floods devastated the country. UPI/Paul Duncan/U.S. Military
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A man and his family sit near their home with some of their belongings after recent heavy flooding in Nowshera, northwestern Pakistan, on August 2, 2010. Rescue workers and troops in northwest Pakistan struggled to reach thousands of people affected by the country's worst floods since 1929. UPI/Sajjad Ali Qurseshi
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The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this cloud-free image over the city of Sukkur, Pakistan on August 18, 2010, after flooding devastated the country. Sukkur, a city of a half-million residents located in southeastern Pakistan's Sindh Province, is visible as the grey, urbanized area in the lower left center of the image. It lies along the Indus River, Pakistan's longest, which snakes vertically from north to south through the image and is the basis for the world's largest canal-based irrigation system. UPI/NASA
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