The Netherlands is making an additional two million euros available for emergency aid for Pakistan, which continues to be affected by devastating floods. This donation, a response to yesterday's international appeal for emergency aid from the United Nations in New York, will be channelled through the World Food Programme (WFP).
The WFP, heading the humanitarian effort in terms of food, logistics and communication, predicts that six million people will require food aid in the next three months. The Netherlands' contribution will allow the WFP to provide immediate aid in the form of food parcels, targeting the most vulnerable i.e. babies, children, women and the elderly. The official death toll now stands at 1271, and the Pakistani government estimates that some 14 million people (8% of the population) have been affected.
On 3 August the Netherlands donated one million euros in aid to the International Red Cross. This new donation brings the Netherlands' total donation in response to the flood disaster in Pakistan to three million euros.
At a special session of the UN General Assembly on Pakistan on 19 August 2010, the Netherlands pledged a further €3.6 million for emergency aid to the flood victims. The money will go towards aid operations carried out by the World Food Programme (€2 million) and UNICEF (€1.6 million).
Thanks in part to the Dutch aid, the World Food Programme (WFP) will be able to distribute food packages to some 6 million people in the months to come. The WFP is also giving logistic support to the overall aid operation. UNICEF will use the Dutch contribution to provide food to infants, young children and mothers, as well as clean drinking water and sanitation. Sanitation is vital in preventing the spread of diseases caused by contaminated floodwater.
The Netherlands had already donated €1 million through the International Red Cross and €2 million through the World Food Programme.
The aim of the General Assembly was to focus international attention on the disaster in Pakistan and to discuss the funding of the international emergency aid operation. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that 15 to 20 million people are affected by the disaster, more than the entire populations hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami (2004), the Kashmir earthquake (2005), Cyclone Nargis (2008) and the Haiti earthquake (2010) combined.