By HOLLY YAN - CNN
Added: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 13:37:09 UTC

Flood victims wait for food and water at a makeshift camp in Sukkur on August 23, 2010

(CNN) -- The statistics are devastating, but for aid workers like Faisal Kapadia and Awab Alvi, witnessing the despair from the Pakistan flooding was far more tragic than they imagined.

"You can see 8,000 to 10,000 people in Sukkur in the road, sleeping in the mud," said Kapadia, a resident of Karachi.

"All the people are sitting on the side of road, defecating there, drinking water there, living there."

Roughly 4 million people are homeless from mammoth flooding that covered much of Pakistan for three weeks. Hundreds of health facilities are damaged or destroyed. Millions are at risk for deadly waterborne diseases from the filthy flood waters.

Officials estimate the death toll between 1,500 and 1,600, but Kapadia says he thinks the numbers could skyrocket as water recedes and more bodies and animals surface.

"Everywhere we go we see eight to 10 feet of water," said Kapadia, who traveled through inundated villages between Shikarpur and Sukkur. "All we see are the tops of houses."
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TAGGED: CAMPAIGNS, HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS