AGL 37.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.68%)
AIRLINK 124.10 Increased By ▲ 2.59 (2.13%)
BOP 5.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.18 (-3.08%)
CNERGY 3.75 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.79%)
DFML 40.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-1%)
DGKC 87.10 Increased By ▲ 2.50 (2.96%)
FCCL 33.98 Increased By ▲ 1.28 (3.91%)
FFBL 66.01 Increased By ▲ 0.51 (0.78%)
FFL 10.20 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.49%)
HUBC 104.45 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (0.63%)
HUMNL 13.45 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (1.51%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (7.9%)
KOSM 6.84 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-3.53%)
MLCF 38.84 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (3.57%)
NBP 60.35 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.17%)
OGDC 179.65 Increased By ▲ 7.40 (4.3%)
PAEL 24.97 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (0.69%)
PIBTL 5.71 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.18%)
PPL 153.00 Increased By ▲ 11.31 (7.98%)
PRL 22.79 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.31%)
PTC 14.91 Increased By ▲ 0.17 (1.15%)
SEARL 66.85 Increased By ▲ 2.29 (3.55%)
TELE 7.01 Decreased By ▼ -0.13 (-1.82%)
TOMCL 35.70 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (0.56%)
TPLP 7.32 Increased By ▲ 0.03 (0.41%)
TREET 13.99 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-1.48%)
TRG 50.95 Decreased By ▼ -0.80 (-1.55%)
UNITY 26.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-0.75%)
WTL 1.23 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.82%)
BR100 9,717 Increased By 233.5 (2.46%)
BR30 29,237 Increased By 866.2 (3.05%)
KSE100 90,860 Increased By 1893.1 (2.13%)
KSE30 28,458 Increased By 630.4 (2.27%)

un_rauf_engin_soysal_400UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan remains in need of humanitarian and early recovery assistance to deal with the devastation wrought by last year's massive floods, the UN special envoy said Friday after visiting the worst affected Sindh province.

"Providing early recovery and reconstruction assistance in this phase is very complex, and a lot of work still needs to be done", Rauf Engin Soysal, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Assistance to Pakistan, said at the end of a two-day visit to the province where more than seven million people were affected by the floods, according to a news release issued at UN Headquarters in New York.

Soysal said he was pleased to see the humanitarian community continuing its work to assist those who remain in need six months since the floods first struck Pakistan."In close cooperation with the federal, provincial and district authorities, the United Nations and non-governmental organisations are providing emergency relief as well as early recovery assistance, which is urgently needed for the long-term recovery of the country", he said after visiting the districts of Larkana and Sukkur.

Accompanied by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan, Timo Pakkala, and the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the country, Manuel Bessler, Soysal met with provincial government officials and district coordination officers, and had separate meetings with Sindh's Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and Governor Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan.

Their discussions focused on how to strengthen the capacity of the Pakistani authorities to cope with disasters in the future, as well as the complexity of the current humanitarian situation in Sindh, where everything from emergency relief to early recovery and reconstruction is high in demand.

Currently, around two million people are receiving monthly food assistance rations in Sindh and hundreds of thousands of families have been provided with emergency shelter to bridge the gap between temporary and permanent housing.

"Even though more than 1.4 million people have returned to their homes in the province, many of them have not been able to move into their houses. Numerous buildings are still flooded or too unstable to live in, and the affected families continue to be in need of food, tents and plastic sheets", said Soysal.

In addition to shelter, thousands of farmers whose crops were destroyed are also in need of longer-term assistance."In Sindh alone, 2.5 million acres of crops were destroyed by the floods, and it will take years for the land to recover.

Assistance in agriculture is also important for long-term food security", Soysal said. In response to the flood emergency, the UN, its partners and the Government of Pakistan requested $1.96 billion to fund relief and recovery efforts. So far, 56.1 per cent or $1.1 billion of the amount sought has been received.

 

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011 

Comments

Comments are closed.