ISLAMABAD: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Sunday distributed 85 tons of food baskets to the most vulnerable groups in Pakistan’s flood-affected Bahawalnagar district, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report. 

Flooding in Pakistan’s Sutlej river started from August 17 after India discharged floodwater in the river following heavy rains. The floods displaced thousands of people in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, including Bahawalnagar, during August, prompting authorities to carry out relief activities. 

KSrelief has been providing relief items to Pakistan’s flood-affected masses as part of a food security project. On Wednesday, the Saudi aid agency announced it had completed distribution of 12,000 food packages among people in Pakistan’s northwestern Chitral and Dir districts which were battered by floods in July this year. 

“The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Sunday distributed 85 tons and 500 kilograms of food baskets to the most vulnerable groups in the Bahawalnagar area of Punjab province affected by floods,” the APP said. “The aid benefited 6,300 individuals as part of the project’s second phase to support food security in the Republic of Pakistan for the year 2023-2024.”

It said KSrelief would distribute 32,400 food baskets from August to September 2023 during the second phase, adding that the project aims to distribute 105,000 food baskets in four phases. The project aims to benefit 735,000 individuals from the most vulnerable groups across 37 districts of Pakistan’s Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Punjab areas, the APP added. 

“This aid is part of the relief projects provided by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through its humanitarian arm, KSrelief, to enhance food security in Pakistan,” it added. 

KSrelief, with one of the largest humanitarian budgets for aid agencies across the world, has been undertaking humanitarian projects across 88 countries. Pakistan is the fifth largest beneficiary of the organization’s aid and humanitarian operations. According to KSrelief data, the agency has completed 185 projects in Pakistan in education, health care, water, sanitation, hygiene, emergency camps, and community support. These projects have collectively cost roughly $173 million in the last 17 years.