After more than a week of rain earlier this month, portions of Kashmir in India and Pakistan remain submerged in deadly flood waters as the death toll continues to rise.
This is the worst flood in over a century for the area. Nearly 500 people have lost their lives and more than a million people are displaced. (Video via CTV)
Sky News: "Pakistani soldiers have been told saving lives is their priority. But aerial missions like this are slow, tedious operations."
Time reports about 78,000 people have been rescued by helicopters and boats so far. "India sent out 80 medical teams to help the affected, and set up 19 relief camps."
And that medical help could prove vital as many of those who have been rescued and taken to relatively safer places now need to worry about bacteria they could have been exposed to in contaminated flood waters.
A volunteer doctor explained the situation at one rescue area. "There are over 20,000 people here [at one large mosque]. Most people are suffering from conjunctivitis, stress, gastroenteritis. We fear an outbreak of cholera. We have to be prepared for the worst. There are just eight to 10 doctors working ... but the government hasn't set up any proper health camp."
But there's still an overwhelming amount of people who remain stranded. Because of that, rescue crews have had to resort to dropping packages of food and water from helicopters.
CNN : "They said all they've received so far is just water and bags of rice. They're not getting enough food. There's a feeling of hopelessness, trying to figure out how they an get back home."
But as the BBC reports — it's not just a lack of supplied that have people frustrated — many say rescue efforts are just moving too slow. One person told the outlet, "There's no food or medicine here, our children are sick. ... No one from the government's visited us. Only some volunteers, local villagers who are sending us food."
"All the people you can see here, are residents of this neighborhood. For the past few days they've been forced to live out here in the open on the road which is slightly higher because their entire neighborhood is flooded."
But as mentioned earlier, Pakistani soldiers along with the Indian Army, the Air Force and the National Disaster Relief Force have been making efforts to speed up recovery, saying they won't stop until the last man is rescued.
Authorities are now trying to rebuild roads that have been destroyed. The hope is it will help rescue crews reach more isolated areas.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
