A senior UN relief official has called for additional funds for Pakistan as the South Asian country heads into the monsoon season that usually results in flooding, saying precautionary measures are needed to meet any eventuality.
John Ging, Director of Operations, UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters at UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday that the situation in Pakistan was very complex, particularly because of a drop off in funding in recent years.
The humanitarian appeal in 2010 was 70 percent filled, but only 44 percent filled in 2011 and 29 percent last year, he pointed out after his visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is again evidence of failing of the international commitment to do what we are there to do, Ging said.
As a humanitarian organisation, it is frustrating to work with productive partnerships and not be able to deliver. The situation is especially alarming given the upcoming monsoon season which usually results in flooding, he added. "We know perfectly well donors have demands, locally, but given the scale of the vulnerability and the need, we need the stocks to save the lives if the floods come again this year as they have in previous years, Ging urged.