UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has formally called on the international community to help Pakistan respond to the humanitarian needs of the more than five million people in flood-hit areas.
"Following the generous response of the international community to his appeal to assist Pakistan during the devastating floods of last year, the Secretary-General further calls for continued solidarity of the international community in support of disaster management and risk reduction in Pakistan," his office said in a statement on Thursday.
The statement followed the secretary-general's discussions with Pakistan UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon on the worsening situation in Sindh and Balochistan, and his consultations with concerned UN officials.
"The Secretary-General is concerned about recent flooding in Pakistan that has affected more than five million people, with over one million homes damaged or destroyed and four and half million acres of land flooded," the statement said.
"He (Ban) is worried about the situation in the southern part of Sindh where people are in urgent need of food, shelter, safe water and access to health services. The Secretary-General commends the Government of Pakistan's response to these challenges and reiterates the United Nations continued commitment to support the Government in its current efforts to address the needs of the population.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has put the toll of death and destruction following the heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan at 230 people killed, more than 300,000 displaced and 1.1 million homes destroyed or damaged. Some 4.5 million acres farmland has been inundated, major roads damaged and water contaminated.
Last year, floods killed some 2,000 people in Pakistan and submerged about a fifth of the country, affecting 20 million people, as torrential rains sent swollen rivers cascading across the country from the mountainous north, inundating large swathes of low-lying areas all the way to the Arabian Sea.
Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011
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