ISLAMABAD – Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Catherine Bragg, has concluded her first visit to Pakistan, drawing attention to the urgent needs of communities affected by the floods in the south and displaced families in the northwest.
“The provision of relief services in Jalozai Camp, the largest camp where 11 per cent of the 744,000 people displaced from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas continue to receive assistance since 2008, is well organised and efficient due to cooperation on the ground amongst many partners - government authorities and humanitarian organisations,” she told the media on Monday.
“At the same time, there is a funding shortage - as is most often the case in a protracted crisis - $79 million is urgently required to meet immediate needs. Winter is coming, making the need even more urgent. Those needs can only be met if all levels of the Government - from local to federal authorities - are engaged,” she added.
Bragg also called for more assistance for families affected by floods this year. “If you know Pakistan, you know this is the third year that millions of people have been affected by flooding, uprooting families and destroying their livelihoods.”
Funding constraints threaten the provision of critical services to flood-affected people in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces as well as displaced and returnee families in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and FATA. Humanitarian partners urgently require $196 million to continue providing essential relief services over the coming months, including preventative and emergency healthcare, water and sanitation, shelter, education, protection, household relief items, food security and nutrition services.
“Pakistan has faced repeated humanitarian crises in the last decade - from the earthquake of 2005 to the unprecedented flooding in 2010. Inevitably, this has brought Pakistan face to face with the challenges of climate change,” Catherine Bragg said. “In the face of these repeated challenges, we must all turn to the longer-term and sustainable solutions - to strengthening resilience.”
“All partners - the Government of Pakistan, the UN and its partners, international development banks, civil society, and philanthropists alike - must come together to tackle this most enormous challenge,” Bragg concluded.