ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan foreign office on Thursday released a breakdown of flood relief assistance flights to the country this month, saying a total of 101 planes had arrived so far, 55 of them from the United Arab Emirates.
The aid flights have been an important source of supplies to survivors of devastating floods that have left thousands homeless and killed nearly 1,500 people in Pakistan since mid-June.
The crisis has affected more than 33 million people and displaced over half a million people who are still living in tents and make-shift homes. The water has destroyed 70 percent of wheat, cotton and other crops in Pakistan. At one point, a third of the country’s territory was submerged.
Initially, Pakistan estimated the floods had caused $10 billion in damages, but now multiple economists say the cost is roughly around $30 billion, five times more than what Pakistan’s government will get under a 2019 bailout signed with the International Monetary Fund.
“101 International Relief Assistance Flights have landed in #Pakistan to aid in alleviating suffering caused by unprecedented #FloodsInPakistan,” a public diplomacy account run by the Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs said on Thursday.
"The help and support extended to the people of Pakistan in this time of need is deeply appreciated."
The ministry said the UAE had sent 55 relief flights, the US 15, Turkey 13 and China and Qatar 4 each. UNICEF and Saudi Arabia have sent two plane loads of relief while the UK, Nepal, Jordan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and France have sent one plane each. The World Food Program has sent 3 plane loads, and UNHCR 13.
On Wednesday, the UN resident coordinator in Pakistan, Julien Harneis, told reporters member states had so far committed $150 million in response to an emergency appeal for $160 million. He said $38 million pledges from the world community had been converted into assistance for Pakistan.
The impoverished nation is diverting funds allocated for development projects to help flood victims. With winter just weeks away, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif this week promised the country’s homeless people that the government will ensure they are paid to rebuild and return to their lives.
Sharif on Thursday traveled to Uzbekistan to attend a summit of a security group formed by Beijing and Moscow. On the sideline of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, Sharif is expected to brief world leaders about the climate-induced damages caused by floods in his struggling Islamic nation.
