The UN has made an appeal for around $357 million to help the
Pakistani government in providing assistance to over five million
people affected by floods in the country, a UN spokesman said.
The appeal — named the UN Rapid Response Plan for 2011 — aims to
provide food, water, sanitation, health and emergency shelters to the
worst hit families in Pakistan’s southern provinces of Sindh and
Balochistan over the next six months, Xinhua quoted Martin Nesirky as
saying Monday.
Valerie Amos, UN under-secretary-general for the coordination of
humanitarian affairs, said: ‘More than five million people are
struggling to survive massive flooding across southern Pakistan, and
the rains continue to fall.’
This year’s rains have affected 5.4 million people in Sindh and
Balochistan, destroyed nearly one million homes, and forced at least
824,000 people to move into make-shift settlements, according to
reports.
The UN has distributed more than 20,000 shelter kits and household goods, as well as 530,000 plastic sheets, statistics said.
More than 650,000 people have received medical care, and 500,000
people will receive food aid by the end of September. The UN also aims
to provide 400,000 people with access to safe drinking water over the
coming days.
Devastating floods in Pakistan in 2010 affected around 20 million people, and resulted in 2,000 deaths. IANS
