Seasonal rains and flooding have killed more than 200 people and made thousands more homeless in Pakistan and eastern India.

Zafar Qadir, the head of Pakistan's disaster management authority, said Monday that at least 200 people have been killed and more than five million affected by monsoon rains in his country.

The flooding has inundated nearly 1.7 million hectares of land, including more than 600,000 hectares of crops.

On Saturday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani appealed to the international community for assistance.

China has so far pledged $4.7 million in aid, with its ambassador handing over a check for $50,000 to Pakistan's disaster management authority on Monday. The United Nations World Food Program has started distributing food to half a million people in Sindh province, most of which is covered in floodwaters.

The U.S. State Department says Washington has begun sending food assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development, to reach 346,000 Pakistanis. The U.S. is also providing about 5,500 families with shelter and non-food items through USAID partners, and will provide medical services for some 500,000 Pakistanis.

Pakistan is still recovering from last year's devastating floods that killed more than 1,700 people and affected nearly 20 million others.

In his TV appeal Saturday, Mr. Gilani urged the Pakistani people to come together to help the nation recover from the latest flooding.

Meanwhile, heavy rains and flooding in India have killed at least 16 people in eastern Orissa state.

Indian disaster management officials say the government has set up relief camps for the tens of thousands of people affected by the rains.