Pakistanis still feel pinch of unprecedented floods: Ambassador Masood Khan

BEIJING: Seven months after the 2010 unprecedented floods, its impact remains serious. Millions of people still need humanitarian assistance in one form or the other everyday.

The Government and people of Pakistan are mobilizing all resources for early recovery. Many initiatives have been taken to help people rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Most importantly, the people of the affected areas have shown remarkable resilience to put their shattered lives together.

An estimated 18 million people were affected in an area of 160,000 square kilometres, said Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Masood Khan in an interview to China Economic Weekly, adding that "we are now trying to rebuild destroyed homes, farmland, clinics, schools, roads, bridges, power stations, and water supply systems".

He held that flood water is still there in some parts of the southern province of Sindh where it had breached embankments submerging vast areas.

The rehabilitation of houses, schools, agriculture, and road networks has been major priority for the government, he said.

He pointed out that nearly one million people have been provided temporary shelter while around 500,000 households have been given seeds and fertilizers for the winter crop season. Farmers are also being given livestock support. Support to educational facilities for more than 300,000 affected students has been given, he said.

In addition to that through Watan Cards, Rs. 27.3 billion have been disbursed in the form of cash as grant. The national relief agencies have supplied blankets, bedding items, clothes, shoes, and utensils, and mixed food to the affected areas.

The main challenge for us is reconstruction, which requires both domestic and international resources.

Ambassador Khan in this regard said that we are grateful to China for giving us timely, substantial and unconditional assistance during and after the floods. China has helped Pakistan with all the five phases, rescue, relief, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

"We are also grateful to China for giving to Pakistan the largest relief assistance given to any foreign country", Khan remarked.

He explained that the total volume of assistance is even larger because US $200 million has been given in the form of grant; but the Chinese Government is also extending soft loan to Pakistan worth US $400 million.

"We will use Chinese assistance and credit for rehabilitation and reconstruction of our agricultural sector as well as infrastructure development, especially the highway network", said Ambassador Khan.