UN to increase flood assistance appeal for Pakistan, seeks over $800 million in aid
The United Nations has decided to revise its humanitarian appeal in a bid to control an increase in water-borne diseases after floods in Pakistan.
The United Nations has reportedly decided to increase its humanitarian appeal for Pakistan five-fold from USD 160 million (Rs 13,06,07,20,000) to USD 816 million (Rs 66,60,96,72,000). The UN has decided to revise its humanitarian appeal in a bid to control an increase in water-borne diseases after floods in Pakistan. More than 1700 people have died due to floods in Pakistan.
Earlier in September, the UN launched a $160 million appeal to help Pakistan deal with the floods. Julien Harneis, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, stressed that they are “entering the second wave of death and destruction,” ANI cited Dawn report. Harneis said that there will be a rise in child morbidity and emphasised that the situation will turn “pretty terrible” if
they do not take action rapidly to support the government in “increasing the provision of health, nutrition, water and sanitation services” in the flood-affected regions. Earlier, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his address at the UN General Assembly said that floods in his nation left 33 million people, including women and children at “high risk from health hazards.”
Pakistan & UN to launch up-scaled flash appeal
On October 3, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement announced that an up-scaled flash appeal is being launched jointly by the Pakistan government and the United Nations in Geneva on 4 October. It stated that the flash appeal will be initiated based upon an on-ground needs assessment of the flood situation in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman is set to attend the event in person in Geneva while Pakistan’s Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Economic Affairs Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar will attend the meeting virtually.
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Impact of flood ‘beyond calculation at this point’: Sharif
In his address at the UNGA, Shehbaz Sharif said that the impact of the flood on the health and wealth of Pakistan is “beyond calculation at this point.” He noted that more than 13,000 kilometres of roads have been damaged, one million homes have been destroyed and another million damaged due to floods in Pakistan. He further said that four million acres of crops were washed away in the floods. Notably, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also visited Pakistan and met flood-affected people. During his visit to Pakistan, Guterres termed the flood situation in the country as “climate carnage.” He had said, “I have simply no words to describe what I have seen today.”
