He said that Custodian of the Two Holy  Mosques King Abdullah was taking a personal  interest in relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims. He added that this pledge was in addition to the non- governmental assistance from  the Kingdom.

On Sunday, the Saudi envoy held a meeting with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. During the meeting  he was briefed about the flood situation.

Al-Ghadeer said a team of Saudi doctors will also visit Pakistan soon to provide medical assistance in flood-affected areas.

Saudi Arabia has already started airlifting relief supplies for the flood victims. The supplies were ordered by King Abdullah to alleviate the suffering of flood victims.

The United Nations said on Monday that floods in Pakistan had affected 13.8 million people and eclipsed the scale of the devastating 2004 tsunami, as anger mounted among survivors.

The Pakistani government and UN officials have appealed for more urgent relief efforts to cope with the country’s worst ever floods, with President Asif Ali Zardari due to return home after a heavily criticized European tour.

The entire Swat Valley was cut off at the weekend as were parts of the country’s breadbasket in Punjab and Sindh. “This disaster is worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake,” Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said.

He said the 13.8 million affected outstripped the more than three million hit by the 2005 earthquake, five million in the 2004 tsunami and the three million affected by the Haiti earthquake in January this year.

The United Nations estimates 1,600 people have died in Pakistan’s floods and the Pakistani government has confirmed 1,243 deaths. About 220,000 were killed by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia.Martin Mogwanja, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, called on relief operations “to be massively scaled up.”

“This is the worst ever flood of our history. The nation needs to come together at this crucial time,” said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani after visiting flood-hit areas of Punjab province on Monday.

“Rehabilitation of the affected people is a challenge. We are facing a bigger challenge than 2005 earthquake. It is a catastrophe.”

The government said foreign donors including the United States have pledged $92.8 million in aid, but on the ground charities with suspected extremist links have been far more visible in the relief effort.

Meanwhile, Indian military helicopters on Monday plucked about 150 foreign tourists to safety in the Himalayan region of Ladakh where flash floods have killed 156 people.

At least 300 people remained missing from last week’s floods triggered by heavy rains that destroyed homes, uprooted telephone towers and deposited boulders and mud up to 15 feet high on highways, cutting road links with the rest of India.

“We have airlifted all 150 foreign tourists from Zanskar valley near Leh, where they were stranded for three days,” Priya Joshi, air force spokeswoman, said. About 160 people, mostly foreigners, were awaiting evacuation in the remote areas of Lama Yuru and Karu.

At least 25,000 people have been affected by the floods, army officials said. Some 7,000 soldiers were deployed to rebuild roads and bridges. Some 33 soldiers were also feared swept away in the floods that hit the Ladakh region on Friday.

— With input from agencies