Brussels, 30/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - The victims of the floods in Pakistan will be able to count on an additional €20 million in humanitarian aid from the EU, according to an announcement made by the European Commission on Monday, 30 April. This brings the Commission's 2012 emergency humanitarian funding to Pakistan to €55 million.
The additional funds will come from the Echo budget (the Commission's humanitarian aid service) and will be used to provide shelter, food, health care, clean water and sanitation for the victims of last year's monsoon floods.
“The 2010 and 2011 floods galvanised the international community but we must not forget that millions of people are still struggling to recover, especially in the province of Sindh”, explained Kristalina Georgieva, European Union Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, in a press release. She added: “We also need to react quickly to help more than 40,000 displaced families in Khyber, Pakhtunkhwa province - including a significant number of vulnerable families headed by women.”
In 2010, Pakistan was devastated by unprecedented floods, which particularly affected people living in Sindh province. The floods of summer 2011 added further misery to 5.8 million Pakistanis. The floodwaters killed livestock and destroyed crops, homes and infrastructures. People were still struggling to recover from the record floods of 2010 when they were hit again. Sindh province was hit particularly hard: 72% of households don't have enough food and the level of malnutrition in children under five has spiked above the critical emergency thresholds. In 2011 the European Commission gave €94.9 million to Pakistan in response to emergency needs triggered by flooding, conflict and the needs of Afghan refugees in the country. (AN/transl.fl)