Web Desk
A United Nations ‘Flash Appeal’ will be be launched simultaneously in Geneva and Islamabad on August 30 as the death toll due to devastating floods in Pakistan has topped 1000.
“The UN is going to launch a US 160 million international appeal for assistance to help people affected by massive flooding,” Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Asim Iftikhar said.
Initially, authorities in Pakistan were slow to react but the latest reports from the troubled regions in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and South Punjab indicate the damage caused by current floods is far greater than the floods of 2010.
“It is a moment of great challenge and adversity for Pakistan, as unprecedented rains and floods have caused massive devastation in various parts of the country, especially in Sindh and Balochistan,” the spokesperson said.
He said the government announced a state of emergency owing to huge loss of life, property, infrastructure, livestock and livelihoods. “Millions of people have been upended from their homes.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari received telephone calls from French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Sunday, according to a statement issued by Foreign Office .
Foreign Minister Colonna offered condolences on the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan. The Foreign Minister thanked her for France’s expression of solidarity and offer of assistance to Pakistani people in this hour of need.
The Foreign Minister briefed his French counterpart on the widespread destruction caused across Pakistan by unprecedented rainfall resulting in floods and landslides. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari informed that the floods have caused extensive loss of human lives, livelihoods, livestock, crops, property and infrastructure and the situation is likely to deteriorate further as heavy rains continue over areas already inundated by more than two months of storms and flooding.
