As I prepared to leave for Pakistan last week my friends in England joked: "Why go there when we have enough flooding to deal with here?"
But despite the devastating scenes in Britain each of them understood why I was departing for a similar disaster thousands of miles away. One after the other, floods in Asia are sweeping the continent and Pakistan has taken the brunt of one of the worst.
In the middle of June, Cyclone Yemyin began drawing up water from the Arabian Sea and headed straight for Pakistan. On June 23 the storm made landfall and released torrents of rain over Baluchistan and Sindh provinces for four days.
The resulting flooding has claimed the lives of 319 people with 224 still missing. Some 377,000 people have been displaced and a total of 80,000 houses were completely destroyed in Baluchistan and Sindh alone.
In total 2.5 million people have been impacted by this disaster.
I arrived in the flood zone to join a team led by our German partner agency, Humedica. Over the last month Operation Blessing and Humedica have been providing shelter kits to flood victims. With thousands left homeless, shelter is a priority need for the suffering population.
Scores of families are camping along roadsides under the scorching sun in temperatures approaching 50Celcius (122 Fahrenheit). In many areas the elevated roads are still the only land not submerged by floodwater.
During my first day on the ground I was shocked to walk down mile after mile of road flanked on either side by sick children sitting amongst the few belongings that their family were able to salvage as they fled. With the monsoon season fast approaching, a lack of shelter will only compound the misery.
If the intense heat and crippled road network are not making the relief effort hard enough, then there is the ever present threat of kidnap or violence from one of the many extremist groups that have succeeded in making Baluchistan one of the most dangerous places in the world.
I was discussing the relief effort with a curious shopkeeper when he mentioned the Korean hostages currently being held in Afghanistan. "Aren't you afraid?" he asked.
In an area that causes aid workers to cringe just at the mention of its name, it is hard not to be nervous at least. After the U.S. bombardment of the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in 2001, it is thought that Osama Bin Laden may have fled across the border to hide in Baluchistan.
One thing is for sure, if Bin Laden is in Baluchistan, then Cyclone Yemyin left him soaking wet.
The first day of rain was so intense that it sent alarm bells ringing and hundreds of Pakistani Rangers began evacuating people from low lying areas.
This is not the first time that the region has seen massive flooding. In 1994 the area was so heavily inundated that the flood defense barrier close to the Baluchi /Sindh border was tested to its limit. This time, however, Cyclone Yemyin took the barrier beyond its limit.
The Pakistani Rangers have been providing security during our distributions and have been one of the most cooperative and helpful groups that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. One Major I spoke with was part of the evacuation operation. "We warned people that more water was coming," he said in angst.
The Rangers succeeded in getting thousands of people to higher ground and to towns out of harm's way. But they had no mandate to force villagers from their homes and during the final night of rain the floods breached the 12-foot defense barrier in over 40 places and hundreds of people and animals were swept away.
In places, the water has begun to recede and evidence of that disastrous night can be seen. Animal carcasses lie in pools of filthy water and fields where crops once grew are now ponds of mud strewn with the remains of farmers' homes.
Rice is the main crop grown in the region and the loss of this harvest will be devastating. But even worse is the destruction of the intricate network of irrigation channels and furrows that is so vital for rice production.
With so much work needed to resurrect the agricultural infrastructure, there are fears for the next harvest and beyond. It is clear that the worst is not over.
As hunger and sickness become prominent problems, we have secured a grant from the German government and are adding vital items to our shelter distributions: rice and milk powder for hunger, soap for hygiene and skin diseases and nets to protect against a surging plague of mosquitoes and malaria.
But the numbers of people still in need are staggering and there are fears that attention to this disaster is waning too soon. My Ranger friend estimates that it will take a further 30 days just for the waters to drain.
It seems the barrier designed to keep floods out is also quite effective at keeping water in. In some places the water reached a depth of 14 feet (3.7 metres); now over a month later, the water level in many places is still at six feet (1.8 metres).
I stood on the earthen barrier and looked out over the flood that stretched for as far as I could see. The wind picked up and sent small waves crashing. Had it not been for trees poking their tops out of the water I could have been on the shore of a great ocean.
Similar "oceans" have been forming all over Asia as the region goes through some of the worst weather since records began. Unlike the earthquake of 2005, where humanitarian agency attention was focused on helping Pakistan recover, the victims of Pakistan's floods are having to share the spotlight with their flooded neighbours throughout the continent.
The heat does not faze me and I feel safe under the protection of the Rangers but I am afraid that the floodwaters of Asia (and even England) have diluted international response to each individual flood disaster. The Pakistan flood victims need more help than they are receiving. This disaster is far from over.
