Reports of looting, violence surface in flood-ravaged Pakistan

CNN Wire Staff

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/interactive/2010/08/world/gallery.large.pakistan.flood/images/15.jpg caption="Millions of children are at high risk of deadly diseases, United Nations says" width=300 height=169]

Desperation erupted into violence Tuesday in flood-ravaged Pakistan as survivors who have yet to receive aid scrambled to put food in their empty bellies.

People in Sindh province blocked a highway to protest the slowness of aid delivery and clashed with police, the United Nations said. In a hard-hit district of Punjab, hungry mobs unloaded two aid trucks headed to a warehouse. Local aid agencies reported other incidents of looting.

An aid agency worker said distributions were hampered because of the crowds stopping the convoys and because large numbers of people were living along the road.

About 20 million people have been affected by the relentless monsoon rains that began falling three weeks ago, leading to massive flooding from the mountainous regions in the north to the river plains of the south.

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