Flood waters that have killed more than 450 people in Pakistan and India have begun to recede.<br /><br />In a bid to prevent further death and destruction, authorities in Pakistan have destroyed a strategic dam in the flood-affected Punjab region to protect urban areas and ease pressure on defensive systems.<br /><br />That move alone is understood to have allowed some 700,000 people to be evacuated from villages.<br /><br />In India, the army has been struggling to evacuate people from homes and mosques where they have sought shelter.<br /><br />Now the top priority is to distribute food, clean drinking water, medicines and stop the spread of water-borne diseases.<br /><br />Authorities say more than a million people have been cut-off from basic services.
