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The World Bank will release $900 million (574 million pounds) to
help fund relief efforts for Pakistan’s flood disaster as international
agencies warned millions of people were at risk from disease.

The United Nations has warned that up to 3.5 million children
could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated
water and insects in a crisis that has disrupted the lives of at least a 10th
of Pakistan’s 170 million people.

Up to 1,600 people have been killed and two million made
homeless in Pakistan’s worst floods in decades.

Hundreds of villages across Pakistan, one of the poorest
countries in Asia, have been marooned, highways have been cut in half and
thousands of homeless people have been forced to set up tarpaulin tents along
the side of roads.

The World Bank funds will come through the reprogramming of
planned projects and reallocation of undisbursed funds, but it did not say how
it would be utilised to aid flood victims.

“We are reprioritising to make the funds immediately available,”
said Mariam Altaf, a spokesman for the World Bank.

Public anger

Public anger has grown in two weeks of floods, highlighting
potential political troubles for an unpopular government as aid failed to keep
pace with the rising river waters.

On Monday, some Pakistani flood victims blocked a highway to
demand government help as aid agencies warned relief was too slow to arrive for
millions without clean water, food and homes.

The damage caused by the floods and the cost of recovery could
bring long-term economic pain to Pakistan and shave more than one percentage
point off economic growth, analysts say.

Pakistani stocks ended down 2.9 per cent on Monday on fears the
impact may be more damaging than first estimated.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan,
told Reuters the cost of rebuilding could be more than $10 (6.38 pounds) to $15
billion (9 billion pounds).

He appealed to the international community to provide funds for
relief and reconstruction for a country fighting Islamist militants, or risk
potentially destabilising the whole region.

The government has been under fire for its perceived inadequate
response. Islamic charities, some linked to militant groups, have stepped in to
provide aid to flood victims, possibly gaining supporters at the expense of the
state.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed
concerns over Pakistan’s stability, saying it was dangerous to let the
Islamists fill the vacuum.

“If a person is hungry, if a person is thirsty and you provide
water, he’ll not ask whether you are a moderate or an extremist,” Qureshi told
the British Broadcasting Corporation.

“He’ll grab water from you and save himself and his children who
were starved. So you have to be aware of this challenge.” Only a quarter of the
$459 million (292 million pounds) aid needed for initial relief has arrived, according
to the United Nations. That contrasts with the United States giving at least $1
billion (638 million pounds) in military aid last year to its regional ally to
battle militants.

The U.N. has reported the first case of cholera. In a statement
issued in New York, it said the greatest threat was from acute watery diarrhoea
and dysentery, but that hepatitis A and E and typhoid fever were also
significant risks.

Victims are relying mostly on the military, the most powerful
institution in Pakistan, and foreign aid agencies for help.

Nevertheless, a military coup is considered unlikely. The army’s priority is
fighting Taliban insurgents, and seizing power during a disaster would make no
sense, analysts say.