RAWALPINDI, July 6: The United Nations has deployed its Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team to support its Resident Coordinator’s office in Pakistan and to finalise the ‘flash appeal’ for the assistance of people affected by severe flooding and cyclone that have hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan since June 23.
While the UNDAC team will finalise the flash appeal in consultation with UN agencies in Pakistan, the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) has released an emergency cash grant of $100,000 for local procurement of emergency relief.
Though the government has not requested for international assistance, it says it would welcome help if offered, says the latest situation report issued by the OCHA.
The National Disaster Management Authority announced that a joint assessment would take place in the next few days with participation of the government, UN System, NGOs and other partners.
It has identified shelter, food items, potable water and medicines as the priority relief needs.
UN relief agencies were gearing up their activities in parallel to NGO mobilisations. Two field coordination hubs will be established in Quetta and along the coast.
Unicef was providing tents, blankets, medicines and water purification tablets as well as food supplements.
The World Health Organisation had provided eight trauma kits and one cholera and health emergency kit, among other supplies.
AFP adds from Geneva: United Nations relief agencies are stepping up help for hundreds of thousands of victims of the cyclone and floods in Sindh and Balochistan, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.
About 1.5 million people in Balochistan and 150,000 in Sindh are affected by the flooding and up to 400,000 homes have been destroyed, said the UN humanitarian coordination office.
About 60 per cent of the area hit by floods is inaccessible, OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs told journalists. “The situation for the 1.65 million people affected by the cyclone in Pakistan is serious and UN agencies are going to increase their activities in the region,” Byrs said.
