ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received a total of 135 flood relief flights from different countries since August, the Pakistani foreign office said on Monday, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), United States (US) and Saudi Arabia as top contributors.
Pakistan has been hit by unprecedented hit by the worst floods since the onset of monsoon season, which have killed nearly 1,700 people, affected 33 million and cost the country an estimated $30 billion. The flights carrying humanitarian aid have been a key source of supplies to the affectees in flood-hit areas, many of which still remain marooned.
So far, the UAE has dispatched 41 flights, US 21, Saudi Arabia 10, Turkiye 15, China 4, Uzbekistan 1, Qatar 4, France 1, UNICEF 4, UNHCR 14, Turkmenistan 1, WFP 3, Jordan 1, Nepal 1, UK 1, Oman 8, Russia 1, Greece 1, Italy 1 and Indonesia has sent 2 flights to Pakistan, the Pakistani foreign office said.
Together with the United Nations (UN), the South Asian country is jointly launching a revised flash appeal today, on Tuesday.
“The Floods Response Plan has been prepared in close coordination between the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations, and focuses on providing necessary assistance to the vulnerable people affected by the unprecedented floods,” the Pakistani foreign office said in another statement on Monday.
“It complements the Government’s overall response to the recent climate-induced floods in Pakistan.”
Also on Monday, the UN humanitarian agency warned that about 5.7 million Pakistani flood survivors will face a serious food crisis in the next three months.
A top UN official announced an increase in the humanitarian appeal for Pakistan to $816 million, from $160 million, amid rising deaths from disease.
In Geneva, Julien Harneis, the UN resident coordinator in Pakistan, told reporters that aid agencies needed more funds to prevent a “second wave of destruction” from waterborne and other diseases in Pakistan. He said the UN weeks ago issued an appeal for $160 million in emergency funding to respond to the floods but considering the scale of devastation, the Aug. 30 appeal was not enough.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in its latest report Saturday said the current floods are expected to exacerbate food insecurity in Pakistan and said 5.7 million people in flood-affected areas will be facing a food crisis between September and November.
Even before the floods, according to the World Health Organization, 16 percent of the population was living in moderate or severe food insecurity.
