A series of disasters

The gods have been cruel to Pakistan. The country had barely recovered from the 2005 earthquake which killed 73,000 people when the 2010 floods struck.

The Indus river swelled, wreaking havoc on a huge scale: causing 2,000 deaths and the destruction of 1.5m homes, enough farmland to cover the U.K. and the displacement of 11 million people. The crisis still continues today. Some districts suffer malnutrition rates on a par with sub-Saharan Africa. In others, child labour has risen by a third as parents struggle to earn a living. Some children are turning to drugs to combat their traumas. “As always, it's the weakest who suffer most,” said Marco Aviotti of the medical charity, Merlin. Equally worryingly, the country is ill-prepared for another flood, with a rickety disaster management system. But money is scarce: the government owes $59bn, tax collection remains low, and the economy is dependent on the IMF. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2011