In response to the disastrous rains and floods that have affected the lives of millions in Pakistan, the United Nations is getting ready to launch a Flash Appeal in the country’s support.
Dawn reported that the UN would issue a $160 million appeal. Asim Iftikhar, a spokesperson for the Foreign Office, announced at his weekly press conference on Friday that a UN Flash Appeal will be released on Tuesday, August 30, simultaneously from Geneva and Islamabad.
“As you can see, the scale of the disaster is so huge that it requires urgent cooperation and support from the international community. We are grateful to the UN, IFIs, and a host of our partners and friendly countries who are stepping forward with assistance,” he said.
The government has mobilized efforts since late July and early August, but it is evident that we do need international support to complement the national effort, the spokeswoman said in response to a question about whether the government wants to organize an international donor conference.
Just to let you know, there was a donor’s meeting yesterday at the Economic Affairs Division, in which the Prime Minister himself participated in addition to a number of UN Agencies and numerous resident diplomatic missions.
The spokesperson added: “We have engaged the UN system right from the beginning. The UN Resident Coordinator and his team, they have been working on this issue for many days now, visiting the flood hit areas, making assessments, working with the NDMA to produce this joint assessment, the document that will be presented, on the basis of which the flash appeal will be launched.”
The UN flash appeal, in the spokesperson’s words, “is quite significant” and “will evoke a response from the world community as well as bilateral help from other nations.”
In response to a question about how the government would prevent fake organizations from raising money on the UN’s behalf, he said: “Everyone is probably familiar with the UN’s agencies and initiatives. All I can say is that we should continue to be on the lookout for the organizations you mentioned.”
