Int’l institutions announce $500 million for flood affectees on PM’s appeal

ISLAMABAD, August 25: The international organizations and financial institutions on Thursday announced immediate assistance of more than 500 million dollars for the flood victims on the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The PM chaired an important meeting with the international donors here for providing relief to the flood victims. The representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, international financial institutions, development partners, and donors attended the meeting. The officials of China, the United States and the European Union, agencies of the United Nations and the World Health Organization also took part in the meeting.
The Prime Minister briefed the international partners about the devastation caused by floods in the country, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan. He said the country faced an emergency situation because of the historic rains and floods and a large number of people including women and children lost their lives. He told that houses, infrastructure, crops and orchards were destroyed, roads and bridges were washed away and land routes were cut off which made it difficult to carry out rescue and relief activities.
The relief activities were expanded with the help of the Pakistan army and helicopters, he informed. The devastation caused by floods was more grave than what happened in 2010, he said adding the affectees needed food, medicines, tents, and temporary shelters. He said the federal government undertook relief activities in coordination with the provinces and the federal and provincial departments were working together.
The government released Rs five billion for relief and family of every deceased was given the financial assistance of Rs one million. Each flood victim family was immediately given Rs 25,000 and Rs 80 billion were allocated for this purpose, he added. He said the extent of the destruction of floods was so huge that the federal and provincial governments could not complete the rehabilitation of the flood affectees on their own. He urged international organizations, financial institutions and countries to cooperate with the Pakistan government on an emergency basis, adding a large area of Sindh and Balochistan was already declared disaster hit. – Agencies