ISLAMABAD    -   United Nations is in the process of launching revised humanitar­ian appeal on 4th of October in which additional $600 million will be asked for immediate re­lief assistance for Pakistan.

The UN launched Flash Ap­peal on 30th August, 2022 with the assistance of $160 million grant for flood relief support. Since the devastation is huge, the grant was not enough to meet the needs of the affected population. This was discussed in 2nd meeting of Steering Com­mittee for Coordination Regard­ing International Assistance for Flood Relief Activities, chaired by Economic Affairs Division Acting Secretary, Humair Karim. The agenda of the meeting was ‘Mapping of Humanitarian As­sistance and Relief Efforts’.

The meeting was attended by the representatives from United Nations Development Program, UNOCHA, embassies of Turkey and China, British High Commis­sion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, BISP, Ministry of Food Security, NDMA and Se­nior Officials of Ministry of Eco­nomic Affairs.

The first meeting of the steer­ing committee was chaired by the federal minister for econom­ic affairs on 21st of September. While highlighting the agenda of the meeting, Karim stated that he is attending the meeting on behalf of minister for eco­nomic affairs. He further briefed that the steering committee was formulated by the prime minis­ter of Pakistan with the purpose to encourage better coordina­tion between government of Pakistan and international de­velopment partners for the ef­fective and efficient provision of international assistance to the flood affected areas.

During the meeting, EAD Joint Secretary, Islam Zaib pre­sented the flood situation and flood relief assistance coming from donor partners including; World Bank, ADB, USA through USAID, UK through FCDO, JICA, Turkey, China, EU, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, OPEC, UAE, Italy through AICS, New Zealand, Australia Canada, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Norway, Jordan, Austria, Nepal, France, Turkmenistan, Jordan, Russia, Indonesia, Greece and UN Agen­cies including; UNFPA, WHO, FAO, UNICEF, UNHCR, and WFP.

He further highlighted that currently Pakistan is in the first phase of providing immediate relief to the flood affected areas with the provision of food, shel­ter, medical facility, mosquito nets etc. Ministry of Health ap­prised the donors about the spread of water-borne diseases, malnourishment in children and urgent need of proper medical care to pregnant women in the flood affected areas. He request­ed for the maximum provision of medical supplies including hygiene kit, delivery kit, anti-malarial medicine etc.

During the meeting, National Disaster Management Author­ity (NDMA) presented a brief overview of the floods situation in the country and highlighted the method of distributing flood relief goods. The chair apprised the participants that by 15th of October, the Damage Needs As­sistance Report would be ready which will provide complete pic­ture of the overall damage due to the floods and actual require­ment of flood assistance.

The Chair decided to hold a follow-up meeting in about 10 days to continue coordination between government and devel­opment partners for flood relief