- Wednesday, December 06, 2023
Lord Tariq Ahmad visited Pakistan on October 14 where he was set to meet key government counterparts, community leaders, and aid agencies to discuss the humanitarian crisis and long-term recovery.
By: Shubham Ghosh
The UK has decided to provide further humanitarian support to Pakistan following devastating floods that have killed more than 1,600 people and injured over 12,000. More than 33 million people have been affected by the disaster.
As part of his visit to the South Asian nation on Friday (14), UK minister of state for South Asia (FCDO or foreign, commonwealth & development office) Lord Tariq Ahmad announced on Thursday (13) a further £10 million of humanitarian aid for the flood reliefs, bringing the UK government’s total contribution to £26.5 million, a press release from the FCDO said.
The additional support will be spent on urgent life-saving needs such as providing shelter, water, and sanitation to prevent spread of waterborne diseases.
It will also focus on supporting people who continue to be displaced and those who are returning to their land, by helping re-establish communal water supplies.
During his visit to Pakistan, Lord Ahmad will meet the country’s prime minister, foreign minister, and other government counterparts to discuss the impact of the floods. He will also visit the most-affected areas and speak with key UK-funded aid agencies on the ground in Sindh province in south-east Pakistan.
“The UK continues to help the people of Pakistan recover from the recent devastating floods. Our support will help to tackle the spread of waterborne diseases and to improve access to clean water, sanitation, medical care and shelter across the country,” Lord Ahmad said.
“We are working night and day with Pakistan and our international partners to ensure that UK aid reaches the hardest hit areas. As well as helping with urgent life-saving needs, the UK is supporting Pakistan’s economic recovery and resilience against future climate disasters,” he added.
“The UK’s new Developing Countries Trading Scheme will help grow trade by giving duty-free access to 94 per cent of goods exported from Pakistan to the UK,” the Conservative life peer added.
He will also work on building a strong international support for Ukraine over Russia’s recent annexation of some of its regions and reaffirm people-to-people links between the UK and Pakistan in the context of the South Asian nation’s 75 years of Independence.
Besides the UK’s £26.5 million donation in humanitarian funding, a UK Royal Air Force flight recently delivered eight boats and 10 portable generators for use in the flood relief operations in Pakistan.
Unprecedented rain and flooding have devastated Pakistan since the middle of June and the country’s military has engaged in massive relief and rescue efforts.
The floods swept away pregnant women and infants; left millions homeless; and caused huge destruction to the infrastructure.
According to a ClimateWire investigation, the cause of the flood disaster points to a calamity caused by man, the cumulative effect of erratic weather forecast by climate change models, excessive deforestation, massive soil erosion, and lax attention to infrastructure maintenance, engineering standards used by multinational companies and supremely, ignorance of mankind.
The provinces of Sindh and Balochistan provinces were the worst affected and the devastation comes in the backdrop of a crippling economic turmoil.
[With agency inputs]
