QUETTA: The president of the Balochistan chapter of PPP, Mir Sadiq Umrani, said on Sunday that over 400 people had lost their lives and crops worth Rs22 billion had been destroyed in floods in Naseerabad division.

Addressing a press conference, he said the government had provided foodstuffs only to 3 per cent of the people affected by the floods.

He appealed to the government and the United Nations to accelerate the assistance programme to help the needy.

In all, Mr Umrani said, 1.5 million people had been affected. He called upon the well-off people to help the flood-hit people.

He said that floods had also damaged the communications and irrigation systems in the region and people in Dera Murad Jamali were facing a serious shortage of drinking water.