UN chief Ban Ki-moon is rushing special envoy Jean-Maurice Ripert to Pakistan to assess the dire flood situation and the relief effort, his spokesman said Wednesday. Ripert, the UN special envoy in charge of humanitarian affairs for Pakistan, would arrive in the flood-ravaged country Thursday, Martin Nesirky said in a statement.
A former French ambassador to the UN, Ripert will help mobilise international support to assist the Pakistani government in addressing "the urgent, immediate needs of the population in the affected areas," he said. He will also help "in planning for the early recovery and reconstruction period," the statement added.
Record rains last week triggered Pakistan's worst floods in living memory and landslides that washed away entire villages and ruined farmland in one of the country's most impoverished and volatile regions, already hard hit by the Taliban and al Qaeda-linked insurgency. The international community has mobilised with offers of aid after the flooding that humanitarian workers say has killed 1,500 people and affected 3.2 million, including 1.4 million children, according to UN and Pakistani figures.
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