To help the cash-strapped country deal with the climate disaster, an emergency plan costing USD 160 million was launched. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Pakistan next week for a show of support as the country and its millions of inhabitants deal with the aftermath of “epochal” amounts of rain and flooding.
Secretary-General Guterres will travel to Pakistan to show his support for the “tragic conditions” of the “millions of men, women, and children who have been devastated by disastrous floods,” as stated in a statement released here on Tuesday.
The Secretary-General will arrive in Islamabad on September 9 and then travel to areas hardest hit by the exceptional climatic catastrophe.
Guterres will meet with victims’ loved ones and observe firsthand how the United Nations is helping the government with relief efforts and assisting millions of people through its humanitarian partners. Guterres is scheduled to go back to New York on September 11.
In a video message for the emergency appeal for the Pakistan Flood Response Plan, Guterres said the country is “awash in pain.”
Pakistanis are experiencing a monsoon with steroids as record-breaking rainfall and flooding continue to wreak havoc on their country. According to him, the climate crisis has already caused the deaths of over a thousand people and the injuries of many more.
Guterres claims that millions of people have lost their homes, that hospitals and schools have been damaged or destroyed, that people have lost their jobs and their homes, that vital infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and that their aspirations and dreams have been dashed.
The “2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan (FRP)” was simultaneously released in Geneva and Islamabad by the governments of Pakistan and the United Nations. More than 33 million people across different regions of Pakistan have been devastated by the devastating rains, floods, and landslides that have set the stage for the introduction of the FRP.
There have been over 1,100 deaths, including over 350 children; over 1,600 injuries; over 287,000 demolished or damaged homes and buildings; over 735,000 animal deaths; detrimental effects on 2 million acres of crops; and considerable damage to the communications infrastructure.
Food security, assistance with agriculture and livestock, shelter and non-food items, nutrition programmes, primary health services, protection, water and sanitation, women’s health, educational support, and housing for the displaced are all part of the FRP’s focus, along with a total of USD 160.3 million in life-saving response activities.
But the volume of the requests is expanding like the flood waters, and the world’s collective and prioritised attention is needed, Guterres said. The government of Pakistan has offered financing in response to the tragedy, including immediate cash assistance.
As a result of the Government of Pakistan’s USD 160 million Flash Appeal, 5.2 million people will receive aid in the form of food, water, sanitation, emergency education, protection, and health care, as he put it.
According to Guterres, South Asia is one of the global climate problem’s “hotspots,” and people who live there are 15 times more likely to perish as a result of climate change.
When he continued, “It is outrageous that climate action is being put on the back burner when global emissions of greenhouse gases are still rising, placing all of us – everywhere in growing peril,” I couldn’t agree more. As “more and more extreme weather events are occurring all over the world.”
“Let’s stop sleepwalking into the ruin of our planet by climate change,” Guterres pleaded. Instead, let’s show the people of Pakistan our support during this difficult time. The current location is Pakistan. You never know when it will be your country.
