The World Bank has announced it will provide nearly $2 billion in aid to Pakistan, devastated by floods that have killed more than 1,600 people this year, the largest aid pledge yet.
This year, unprecedented monsoon rains and flooding, which many experts blame on climate change, have also injured some 13,000 people in the country since mid-June.
The rains displaced millions of people and destroyed crops, half a million homes and thousands of kilometers of roads.
World Bank Vice President for South Asia Martin Raiser announced the amount overnight in a statement after completing his first official visit to the country on Saturday.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives and livelihoods due to the devastating floods and are working with the provincial and federal governments to provide immediate support to those most affected,” he said.
Raiser met with federal ministers and the chief minister of Sindh province in the south, the hardest-hit region, where he visited the badly affected Dadu district.
Thousands of makeshift medical camps have been set up for flood survivors in the province, where the National Disaster Management Authority said outbreaks of typhoid, malaria and dengue fever had killed at least 300 people.
The death toll prompted the World Health Organization last week to raise awareness of “a second disaster”, with doctors on the ground battling the outbreaks.
“In an immediate response, we are redirecting funds from existing projects, financed by the World Bank, to support urgent needs in health, flooding, housing, rehabilitation and cash transfers,” Raiser said.
The World Bank agreed last week, in a meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, to grant 850 million dollars (the same amount in euros) to support the floods in Pakistan. The estimated two billion includes that sum.
Raiser added that the bank is working with local authorities to start repairing infrastructure and housing as soon as possible and “restore livelihoods” as well as “help strengthen Pakistan’s resilience to climate-related risks.” .
“We anticipate funding of around two billion for this purpose,” he declared.
In the past two months, Pakistan has sent nearly 10,000 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to help survivors in Sindh province.
Source: Observadora
