SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
UNITED NATIONS - With floods showing no letup in intensity, the United Nations offered to help Pakistan and India as the two neighbours struggle to provide relief to the affected people.
Responding to questions at the regular noon press briefing, the Secretary-General’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the world body’s system stands ready to provide assistance, but pointed out that so far neither Pakistan nor India had appealed for international help. The floods, resulting from the late-monsoon rains, have left more than 300 people dead in India and Pakistan.
With hundreds of villages submerged, thousands of people have been displaced in Pakistan where the Army was leading the effort to rescue people and provide them relief materials.
“Our colleagues at OCHA [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] are working closely with the Pakistani government,” the spokesman said, while responding to a question.
“And I’m sure, as we speak, my OCHA colleagues are watching (the situation),” he said. “But obviously, we stand by, UN stands by to help Pakistan and impacted people.”
Likewise, the spokesman said UN officials in New Delhi are in touch with Indian authorities “to see how best we can help.”