Resilience of communities: US announces $16.4m additional assistance

ISLAMABAD: The United States announced $16.4 million in additional development and humanitarian assistance to support the resilience of communities in Pakistan that experienced 2022’s historically severe floods, which impacted an estimated 33 million people and had a devastating impact on infrastructure, crops, livelihoods, and livestock throughout the country.

The was announced by the USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman who arrived here on Tuesday on a four-day visit from June 6-9 “to underscore the United States’ commitment to its more than 75 year partnership with Pakistan, and to highlight U.S. efforts to support Pakistan’s flood relief and recovery efforts.”

According to a statement issued by her office, the USAID deputy administrator will visit flood-affected areas in Sindh, where she will meet with impacted communities.

In Islamabad, she will meet with Pakistani officials to discuss flood recovery pathways, infectious diseases, global health security, malnutrition, and the nexus of climate change and health as the lead of the US delegation at the US-Pakistan Health Dialogue. The new funding of $16.4 million, according to the statement, will reach over 20 million flood-affected individuals to assist in their recovery, risk reduction, and resilience.

“The assistance will address worsening food insecurity and malnutrition and help curb the spread of disease,” read the statement.

In addition, this funding will support humanitarian partners to provide nutritious food to mothers and their children, help families rebuild local infrastructure to protect them from future disasters, and increase protection services to prevent gender-based violence and support survivors, it added.

Following severe monsoon rains and resultant floods in Pakistan during mid-2022, USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to lead the US humanitarian response and rapidly provide aid to affected communities.

This included working with partners to quickly scale-up vital humanitarian assistance, including through partnering with the US Department of Defense to successfully complete an air bridge that delivered nearly 630 metric tons of life-saving relief commodities to Pakistan.

The US is one of the largest donors to Pakistan, providing more than $200 million in humanitarian and development assistance since 2022’s catastrophic floods. “The United States continues to stand with the people of Pakistan as they recover from the impacts of the historic floods,” the statement added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023