Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday voiced serious concern over the deadly floods in Pakistan, saying the United Nations is in the process of formulating an appropriate response to meet the needs of over 5 million victims.
Responding to a question at his press conference, Ban said he has discussed with President Asif Ali Zardari the grave situation created by the torrential rains and pledged that the UN would provide whatever is possible to help Pakistan deal with the calamity.
He said the high-level UN team, which inspected the flood-affected areas in southern Pakistan, has reported to him that the floods are as severe as last year's and in some cases even more destructive. The Secretary-General said that the UN would outline within a couple of days its course of action to mitigate the deteriorating situation.
According to UN figures, 230 people have been killed by the flooding and more than 300,000 others displaced, with 1.1 million homes destroyed or damaged. The flooding has inundated 4.5 million acres, cutting major roads and polluting water, affecting 5.5 million people.