UN agencies deploy emergency team to flood-hit parts of Pakistan

A five member United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team is being deployed to Pakistan in the wake of the severe flooding and cyclone Yemyin that have affected the country in recent days.

“The Government of Pakistan is doing everything possible to provide aid under extremely challenging circumstances,” said John Homes, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. “The United Nations is ready to supplement their efforts as required, as are non-governmental organizations (NGOs).”

In addition to sending the UNDAC team, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), through its regional office in Bangkok, will deploy two more staff on 5 July to support the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Pakistan.

OCHA also released an emergency cash grant of $100,000 for local procurement of emergency relief.

Some 12 helicopters are being mobilized in the areas of Balochistan and Sindh, where flooding has already driven some 250,000 from their homes and affected more than 1.5 million people overall, after the authorities requested additional helicopters to distribute highest priority supplies – shelter and potable water – to affected areas.

In response to calls for other emergency medicines and supplies in order to prevent an epidemic outbreak, several UN relief agencies, including the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are gearing up their activities in parallel to NGO mobilizations, providing tents, blankets, emergency medicine kits, and water purification tablets. A convoy of relief items from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) with 270 tents and 100 quilts left Quetta, the capital of the Balochistan, on 30 June.

UNHCR is also rushing 15 tons of emergency supplies to thousands of Afghan refugees and surrounding communities in south-western Balochistan.