Flood-hit Pakistan seeks IMF's help

As Pakistanis brace for more flooding in the south of their country, officials are holding talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the country's battered economy and how to maintain stability.

The floods have so far killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million others, with survivors facing the threat of disease.

It is estimated the country's economic losses could spiral to more than $40 billion and there are renewed concerns that Islamic militants may exploit the chaos.

Aid workers now say the scale of Pakistan's humanitarian disaster is gargantuan and growing.

Millions are living in temporary camps in the flood-hit areas.

But the cramped and unhygienic conditions, combined with food shortages and intense heat, raise the spectre of potentially fatal disease outbreaks, such as cholera.

The United Nations says there are already more than 120,000 case of suspected dengue and malaria, while skin infections and diarrhoea have affected hundreds of thousands more.

Relief workers and the military are trying to get aid to the desperate but there is too little to hand out and too many in need.

Abdul Hamid Bulloh, who is organising one of the relief camps, says a heavy security presence is essential.

"People rush over, people don't listen. There is a problem if it is at a road or a highway, there is a problem," he said.

"People don't see there is a distribution of food, they come and they drive."

But Assistant Inspector-General, Javed Odho, says he understands why.

"The loss that people have gone through in terms of the human loss as well as, especially the loss of their crops, food and their households," he said.

"I don't blame them, they just don't want to take any chances because they are not sure what they will be feeding their children the next day, tomorrow."

The UN says more than 6 million people still need basic shelter and the humanitarian situation is critical.