US urges more help as floods expand in Sindh

WASHINGTON: As “astronomical” floods in Pakistan expanded devastation in southern Sindh province, the top US aid official urged more world support toward alleviating sufferings of around 21 million affected people in the face of hunger, disease and economic hardships.

Dr Rajiv Shah said on his return from the country that for its part the United States, by far the biggest aid contributed in terms of logistical and financial support, is committed to helping Pakistan through both relief and rebuilding phases.

“The scale and the scope of this natural disaster is astronomical....This is a core global humanitarian imperative and we need more international support,” the USAID administrator said at a Foreign Press Center briefing.

Shah, who visited relief camps and met with some of the flood-afflicted people, said he was encouraged by world response to the catastrophe at last week's UN General Assembly meeting, as commitments for relief assistance for the first few weeks neared one billion dollars.

However, with 23 per cent of the cropland under water and the tragedy still unfoling in southern Sindh province, he underlined that “there is no question that right now more can be done.”

“But when you look at the scope of what needs to be done here, you have more than 8 million people probably more than that who need acute services in order to survive and to start to think about building back their lives and livelihoods, and we need more resources and support from inside Pakistan and outside of Pakistan in order to be successful with that. So that's going to be true through recovery and reconstruction as well.”

The USAID administrator spoke spoke as floodwaters threatened the historic city of Thatta and Sujawal amid mass exodus of people, with raging floods exacting a heavy toll on local agricultural economies at several places of the province.

Shah, who spoke to some of his counterparts from other countries on the need to do more in that calamity-hit areas, noted “we need to get more of our international NGO leadership out there so that there's greater capacity for a larger humanitarian response” in the face of flooding reaching new communities in the south.

He also noted that resources spent on the immediate relief will save lives, feed people who need food, and help keep children from experiencing sort of long-term morbidity from diarrhea and a range of other illnesses. Around 3.5 million children face risk of becoming exposed to waterborne diseases.