MaximsNewsNetwork: PAKISTAN FLOODS - U.N. HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

MaximsNewsNetwork: 11 August 2010 - UNTV: United Nations, New York - United Nations (UN) aid agencies and their partners today requested almost $460 million to help Pakistan assist millions of people affected by floods that have cut a swathe through the country, killing hundreds of people and destroying homes, farmland and major infrastructure. So far, donors have committed or contributed $47 million to the response activities of the UN and its partners, and a further $99.5 million has been pledged. At least $300 million is, however, still urgently needed. Over the course of June, July and August, monsoon rainfall caused the worst floods in living memory in Pakistan, devastating large parts of the country causing an estimated 1,200 deaths. At least 288,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed. The government of Pakistan estimates that more than 14 million people have now been affected by the emergency. The UN said this disaster could outnumber those suffering from the recent major natural disasters -- the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 South Asia earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. "It is clear we still have a very long way to go to reach all those affected", said John Holmes, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, at the launch of the humanitarian response plan at UN Headquarters in New York. Holmes said that unless aid activities were rapidly scaled up to reach those who were still displaced without access to food and clean drinking water, "human lives and further suffering will occur." Pakistan's Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said that many have not understood the scale of this disaster, adding, "it is horrendous." The disaster he said, would put Pakistan back so many years that they were not even starting on the infrastructure. Worse, he added, waterborne diseases like cholera are breaking out making the situation even more dangerous. After the launch, Holmes told journalists the scale of the disaster was "huge", as well as the needs of the people affected by it. He said that the four hundred and sixty million dollars appealed did not include all the early recovery efforts which will be needed in future like agriculture and infrastructure. Pakistani Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon said that counting the dead was going to take much longer because entire villages had disappeared or were "gone from the face of the earth." Adding the government had no way of counting. Meanwhile today, the government of Afghanistan, with support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), sent aid for the flood-affected victims of northwest Pakistan. UNICEF sent about 35,000 kg of high-energy biscuits (HEB) and 5,250 kg of oral rehydration salts (ORS) to its office in the capital city of Islamabad to be distributed to the affected communities around Pakistan. ...... ( UNITED NATIONS TELEVISION: UNTV ) ... .............................................................. MaximsNewsNetwork: News Network for the United Nations and the International Community. See: http://www.MaximsNews.com. "GIVING POWER & RESONANCE TO THE VOICE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" .....................................................................................