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Australia responds to the monsoon flood disaster in Pakistan
Australia is helping to deliver lifesaving relief items to families affected by monsoonal flooding in Pakistan’s Sindh province.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd today announced $6 million to respond to the worsening flood situation. The package includes food, health, and water and sanitation services.
“Many communities in Sindh are still struggling to recover from damage caused by last year’s floods,” Mr Rudd said.
“At least 240 people are known to have died and 5.4 million people have been affected by this year’s flooding.
Australia is already providing assistance through the World Food Programme, which is distributing more than 3,000 metric tonnes of wheat from existing stocks donated by Australia for emergency relief.
Australia’s new contribution includes $2.5 million for the World Food Programme to provide more than 5,600 metric tonnes of wheat in emergency food relief.
$1 million will go to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to assist in providing much needed shelter to 12,000 people.
$2.5 million will go to Australian non-government organisations, including Save the Children, Plan and Oxfam so they can collectively provide health, water and sanitation services to more than 167,000 people in the worst affected communities in Sindh.
“Australian non-government organisations that are active in Sindh are already distributing pre-positioned relief items such as food, water and sanitation support to over 40,000 people,” Mr Rudd said.
