Eight million Pakistani flood victims in urgent need: UN

ISLAMABAD - The UN said Thursday that the numbers of Pakistani flood victims who need immediate assistance has risen to eight million, requiring more money than previously requested.

“The new estimates show about eight million people would need urgent assistance in terms of food, shelter and medical health,” Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told DPA.

Earlier, the UN had appealed for $460 million to help the estimated six million Pakistanis in need. The amount of the appeal might increase, the spokesman said, without giving any figures.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon planned to meet with the UN General Assembly later Thursday to discuss the international response to the floods.

The world response, after initial sluggishness, was picking up. Giuliano said that the UN had secured $272.4 million - $231 million dollars in cash and $41.4 million in pledges - equivalent to 60 percent of the appeal.

The worst floods in Pakistan’s history have submerged around one-fifth of the country, with local and UN officials giving conflicting figures of the numbers of people affected.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and UN General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon last week put the number at 20 million.

However, Giuliano said Thursday that 15.4 million people are affected, including at least 7.5 million children. An estimated 971,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged, leaving 6.8 million without a home.

Some have already received help, but 4.6 million still have no shelter, Giuliano said. “We should not be surprised if the numbers go even higher, because millions of people are on the move,” he said.

“Many many of these need food, medical health and clean drinking water.”

But the camps were also facing their own problems, as waterborne diseases were reported, raising concerns among the aid agencies.

“Three children have died due to gastroenteritis, a disease caused by impure water,” an aid worker said in a relief camp in the southern port city of Karachi.

The children - one girl and two boys, were aged two-and-a-half to six years, said Qamar Abbas, spokesman for Edhi, a local humanitarian organisation. “These deaths are a matter of great concern for us,” he said.