U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke and Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday announced more assistance for millions of people affected by recent floods in Pakistan.
The worst floods in the country’s history affected over 20 million people, many of them still living in temporary camps where aid workers are struggling to provide them with food, medicine and clean drinking water.
After visiting the flood—hit areas near Multan, a city in Punjab province, along with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, they said the world should do more for the victims.
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Mr. Holbrooke, who was in the country on his 17th trip since the administration of President Barack Obama took office, said the United States was keeping its traditional spirit alive by helping Pakistan in its hour of need and “we also intend to increase our contribution as time goes on.” He said one—quarter of aid delivered by the UN agencies came from U.S. taxpayers’ money.
The U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan said his country had already given 300 million dollars and 30 of its helicopters were helping in rescue and relief operations.
Mr. Rudd announced an additional 40 million Australian dollars (37.4 million US dollars), taking the total Australian assistance to 75 million dollars, and making Australia one of the top five donors.
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“The international community should watch closely what happens here in the next months and be ready to help check the spread of epidemics,” he said. “Everyone must do more to help our friends in Pakistan.” Mr. Qureshi thanked the international donors and said his country would host an international conference before the end of the year to mobilize more funds for the flood—affected people.
International assistance was slow in the early days of the disaster, mainly due to concerns about the transparent use of funds, but the situation improved as the real magnitude of the floods dawned upon the world.
Most of the international assistance has been directed through the UN agencies after the world body launched an appeal for 460 million dollars of immediate help.
Officials said net losses due to floods would run into billions of dollars but the real situation would only be clear by the middle of next month when disaster assessments are completed.