Prayers as 1,300 die in floods

Prayers have been said at Oldham mosques over the weekend for victims of the floods in Pakistan which have claimed more than 1,300 lives.

Rescue workers are struggling to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by monsoon rains that have caused the worst flooding in decades in Khyber-Pakh-toonkhwa province, formerly the north west frontier, and Punjab.

Many Oldham residents in the Werneth and Glodwick areas have families in the flooded towns and villages, according to Fazal Rahim from the Oldham Interfaith Forum.

Mr Rahim said: “My own parents live here now but the village they come from was only three miles away from the floods.”

Oldham’s large Kashmiri community is also affected.

Mr Rahim added: “Since Friday, special prayers have been said five times a day and moves are afoot to see what as a community we can do to help out, with meetings tonight.

“We fear the casualty figures will be much higher than the 1,300 which is being reported.

“Many of the areas affected are villages in valleys where there is no communication.”

The Pakistan provincial government is using aerial monitoring which has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have vanished.

The United Nations estimates has affected one million people nationwide.

Former Oldham councillor Basit Shah said he knew many people in Werneth would have families affected by the floods. “People who have managed to make contact with families say they need aid like food, clothes and shelter.”

Mr Shah, who has run fundraising campaigns to take aid after the Pakistan earthquake, and the military action in the Swat Valley, plans to organise more aid at meetings after talking to the Pakistan High Commission.