Australia announces $6mn to provide relief to flood hit families

ISLAMABAD: Australian government on Tuesday announced $ 6 million to help provide relief to families affected by monsoon flooding in Sindh province.

Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd while announcing the assistance said the package includes food, health, and water and sanitation services.

"Many communities in Sindh are still struggling to recover from damage caused by last year's floods. At least 240 people are known to have died and 5.4 million people have been affected by this year's flooding," he said.

According to Australian High Commission Islamabad, Australia is already providing assistance through the World Food Programme, which is distributing more than 3,000 metric tonnes of wheat from existing stocks donated by Australia for emergency relief.

Australia's new contribution includes $ 2.5 million for the World Food Programme to provide more than 5,600 metric tonnes of wheat in emergency food relief.

As many as $ 1 million will go the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to assist in providing much needed shelter to 12,000 people while $ 2.5 million will go to Australian non-government organisation including Save the Children, Plan and Oxfam, so they can collectively provide health, water and sanitation services to more than 167,000 people in the worst affected communities in Sindh.

"Australian non-government organisations that are active in Sindh are already distributing pre-positioned relief times such as food, water and sanitation support to over 40,000 people," Mr. Rudd said.

"Australia is also providing specialists in communications and logistics to assist the World Health Organization and UNICEF to deliver flood assistance on the ground in Pakistan," he added.

Meanwhile, Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Tim George said the flood situation was devastating to communities, only just recovering from the floods of 2010.

"Our hearts go out to the people of Pakistan affected by the floods. As friends of Pakistan, we want to help provide food and shelter to those affected," he said.