‘Aid so far pledged by global community goes mainly to short-term efforts’

Islamabad: The financial aid so far pledged by the foreign countries and donor agencies will go mainly to short-term efforts but would not effectively compensate for long-term costs.

According to the details, the United Nations is currently coordinating for Pakistan, asking for 160 million dollars. The United States has pledged 30 million dollars, the United Kingdom 17.3 million dollars, and Canada around 3.8 million dollars. The data prepared by the ministry of planning and development showed that 72 districts were declared calamity-hit, over 33 million people were affected—which was the size of a

small country — over 1,000 people had lost their lives and several others were grappling with the loss of livelihoods and displacement.

It stated that Pakistan needs funds to provide people with food, water, sanitation, emergency education, protection, and health support. The aid, covering the initial six months of the crisis response, would only help avoid outbreaks of cholera and provide food aid to mothers and their young children. The devastation witnessed in Pakistan following the recent spell of unprecedented rains and floods showed that the country had become ‘ground zero’ of global warming, the ‘biggest existential threat’ of this century. A government official has informed that Pakistan direly needs funds to help affected communities by funding measures to rebuild their livelihoods, protect local communities from future flooding with flood control measures and develop warning systems for flooding to protect people when future flooding occurs.