Pakistan, UN launch $120m flood victim scheme
Pakistan and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) yesterday launched a 120 million dollar programme to help people rebuild their lives following the country's recent devastating floods.
The European Commission has decided to more than double its Pakistan flood aid to 150 million euros (205 million dollars), the European Union's humanitarian aid chief said Friday.
The EU's executive arm has already provided 70 million euros in aid and will now distribute another 80 million euros to its partner organisations, European humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva told a news conference.
"The one-year programme, which is part of a broader UN emergency response plan, aims at restoring livelihoods through job creation, repairing basic community infrastructure," the UN agency said in a statement.
Torrential rain began falling in northwestern Pakistan in July and the floods have since moved slowly south, wiping out villages and farmland and affecting an area roughly the size of England.
The United Nations has issued a record two-billion-dollar appeal for funds to cope with the disaster, which UN agencies say affected 21 million people and left 12 million in need of emergency food aid.
Comments