France has sent its relief assistance to the flooded areas in Turbat and Jacobabad. French Ambassador to Pakistan, Regis de Belenet and General Farooq of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.
The French assistance comprising 15 emergency medical kits (medicines for around 12,000 patients), 45,000 water purification tablets and 3 water treatment plants arrived at Karachi Airport last weekend.
French Consul General in Karachi, Pierre Seillan was at the Karachi Airport to receive the shipment and hand it over to the NDMA. The aid's composition was established according to the needs expressed by the Pakistani authorities. France decided to focus on water-sanitation and medicines, two areas in which the French expertise is well known.
Turbat, which has close ties with France since 1990 when the Makran archaeological program, managed by French Professor R. Besenval, started, has been badly hit by the cyclone and the floods. Five French experts arrived to set up the water purification plants in Turbat and Jacobabad. French Consul General Pierre Seillan also accompanied the French technicians to Turbat.
Another location in Balochistan is being identified by the NDMA for the third plant. After setting up these plants, French experts will train Pakistani technicians who will run and maintain these plants to supply potable water to the flood victims. The rest of the relief package, medicines and water purification tablets, has been handed over to the NDMA and Pakistani Army for distribution in the affected areas.-PR