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Pakistan needs more than $10 billion to repair and rebuild infrastructure damaged by monsoon rains that have caused devastating flooding , Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday. “Massive damage has been caused to infrastructure — especially in the areas of telecommunications, roads, agriculture and livelihoods,” he told AFP . Iqbal’s statements are a reiteration of an assessment he shared with Reuters a day earlier, where he said he believed that the cost of the damage caused by floods would be “huge”. “So far, [a] very early, preliminary estimate is that it is big, it is higher than $10 billion,” Iqbal said, adding that there was damage to almost nearly one million houses“. “People have actually lost their complete livelihoods,” he continued, rating the recent floods worst than those that hit Pakistan in 2010. The minister said it might take five years to rebuild and rehabilitate the nation, while in the near term it will be confronted with acute food shortages. Re

SWAT/MANSEHRA/LOWER DIR: The flash floods swept away over 490 houses, 50 hotels, 40 schools, 54 bridges, link roads, 200 riverbank spurs and scores of vehicles in Hazara and Malakand divisions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since August 25, local officials said on Saturday. The Swat administration reported the destruction of 233 houses, 41 schools, 50 hotels, and 24 bridges by the deluge in the district during the last three days. According to officials, floodwaters also destroyed roads with a total length of 130 kilometers in the district. They said more than 1,000 tourists stranded in Kalam and Bahrain areas were being evacuated by helicopter for the safe return to their respective areas. Scores of people trapped in rivers rescued The officials also said the administration had begun rehabilitation activities in the district, while teams were draining floodwaters and vaccinating livestock against diseases. Information secretary Arshad Khan said around 10 tons of food items had b