UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for donations of nearly a half billion dollars to aid flood victims in Pakistan as the magnitude of the disaster widened, with about one-fifth of the country submerged and the annual monsoon season still potent.
“The scale of the disaster is huge; the needs of the people affected are huge,” said John Holmes, the humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations, as he announced the appeal for $460 million. Donors had already pledged $150 million before the appeal was announced.
The money would help meet the immediate needs of an estimated 14 million people who have been affected in some way by the flooding, Mr. Holmes said, with 6 million needing humanitarian assistance like shelter, food, clean water and emergency health care. The United Nations, responding to the physical difficulty of navigating the flooded areas, has resorted to methods as varied as helicopters and donkeys to deliver aid, he said.
The official death toll has remained at 1,200, but with 6,000 villages wiped off the map, the figure is likely to rise, said Abdullah Hussain Haroon, the Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations. Given that nearly 58,000 square miles remain under water, he said, the government has basically abandoned trying to establish an accurate count of those who had been killed.
“There are islands — the whole place — you cannot get from one area to another, there is no connection,” Mr. Haroon said at a news conference. “The phones are down, the roads are blown away. It’s like going back to primordial history, practically.”
With more rain expected, he said, there are still many potential threats, ranging from the spread of cholera to fears that a damlike structure known as the Guddu Barrage on the Indus River may crack.
The flooding has probably swallowed 15 percent to 25 percent of the annual cotton crop, and the soggy earth is likely to make planting winter wheat difficult in September, when seeding customarily takes place, Mr. Haroon said. Pakistan anticipates that the flooding will reduce gross domestic product by 1.5 percent this year, he said.
The appeal for international aid covers just the immediate needs over the next few months and does not include longer term requirements like agricultural aid or replacing scores of bridges that were swept away.