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[13 July 2007] - The United Nations Children’s Fund is raising the alarm about the toll faced by millions of children across Southern and Eastern Asia after an especially fierce monsoon season has led to a series of deadly floods in Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Afghanistan. “The monsoon season hits South Asia with regularity, but we’ve seen it strike with special fury this year,” UNICEF spokesperson Rafael Hermoso said today. “You can look at a map and make an arc over the affected countries.” The worst affected is Pakistan, where an estimated two million people – mainly women and children – have been hit by floods that followed four days of heavy rain in the wake of Cyclone Yemyin late last month. UNICEF has issued an appeal for $5 million to deal with immediate needs. At least 300,000 children under the age of five are suffering, according to UNICEF, with many areas still cut off by flood waters, and many water distribution systems damaged or destroyed, leading to poor hygiene, unsanitary conditions and outbreaks of waterborne diseases. The hardest-hit regions in Pakistan, Balochistan and Sindh, are among the country’s most disadvantaged, leaving the children and women there especially vulnerable, Mr. Hermoso said. He said UNICEF’s experience in responding to Asian floods had revealed the importance of pre-positioning emergency supplies so that stocks are in place before a disaster strikes. “The tsunami [in December 2004] underscored the critical need for this and we have seen it work in all four countries,” he said, referring to Pakistan, India, Myanmar and Afghanistan. “In Pakistan and Myanmar, we have been able to distribute essential life-saving materials in part because of supplies that were pre-positioned following the earthquake [in Pakistan in October 2005] and tsunami respectively. Of course, those supplies need to be replenished so that we can respond in the future.”... Flash floods have also struck the Indian states of West Bengal and Orissa in the east and Rajasthan in the west after recent monsoon rains, and UNICEF has started responding to local government requests for assistance. Last month in Afghanistan flooding led to the deaths of more than 100 people and the displacement of thousands of others. Further information