Offering its wholehearted support to flood-hit Pakistan, India has vowed to do all it can to assist the country in relief efforts, apart from the USD five million in aid already extended by it.
“We are willing to do all that is in our power to assist Pakistan in facing the consequences of floods,” Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s envoy to the U.N., told the General Assembly on the second day of a special meeting on the Pakistani floods on Friday.
“We extend our wholehearted support to the government of Pakistan in its effort for relief and rehabilitation of their adversely affected population,” he said.
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During his visit to the U.N. on Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had accepted India’s offer of aid to the tune of USD 5 million.
Pakistan has been hit by the worst floods in 80 years, which have soaked one fifth of its land, killed more than 1,500 people and impacted an estimated population of 20 million with around 6 million in need of emergency aid, which included 3.5 million children.
The U.N. has launched a flash appeal for USD 460 million out of which USD 263 million has been received, which is approximately 53 per cent.
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Despite a slow start, the contributions picked up speed after U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited the flooded areas last week and said it was the worst natural disaster he had witnessed, while describing the conditions as “heart wrenching.”
Pakistan, which has lost a high volume of infrastructure and agriculture, is probably going to need aid worth billions of dollar as it moves into the recovery and rehabilitation phase.