‘People are getting sick’: destitution in flood-hit Pakistan

With their homes destroyed by worst flooding in living memory, people in Jaffarabad appeal for help

In the midst of swamps of flood water, hundreds of people who fled one of the worst-hit districts of Pakistan pitched tents on the only high ground they could find - on the raised banks of the Saifullah Magsi canal.

They had left the Jaffarabad region of Pakistan's impoverished Balochistan province as a monsoon deluge that authorities say has claimed more than 1,000 lives since June swept away their homes and livelihoods. The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visiting Jaffarabad on Sunday, was told that at least 75% of Balochistan, which covers half of Pakistan's land area, was partially or completely affected by flooding.