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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| UN Estimate: 4.6 Million People In Pakistan Without Shelter |
| 2010-08-20 |
| The United Nations estimates that 4.6 million flood survivors are still without shelter while six million are in need of food assistance, a spokesman said on Thursday. Are the Paks diverting money from the ISI yet to cope with this disaster? No? Let me know when it happens ... "Roughly 4.6 million people are still without shelter," Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Islamabad, told AFP. The rough estimate includes hundreds of thousands of people who are still on the move, he said. "In this context we have decided to increase the number of targeted beneficiaries for tents and plastic sheeting from the initial figure of two million to at least six million," he said. Almost one million people have already received these items and the UN called on donors to keep up the pace of funding to reach the target. "We are confident that the international community will not stand by and watch as millions of flood victims live in open air, while they already struggle to survive in the face of food shortages, lack of clean water and the spread of diseases," Giuliano said. UN said that funding situation is gradually getting better but immediate humanitarian needs of at least six million are still unmet. Detailing progress on relief efforts, OCHA head Manuel Bessler said, "After a month we are still in the rescue and relief phase. Humanitarian organisations fear various challenges. The scale of the disaster is gigantic and no organisation or the government has the capacity to meet the challenge alone". World Food Programme spokesman Marcus Prior said that one-month ration has been provided to more than 950,000 people. "Around six million people are in need of food assistance. We will go location to location and provide food to worst affected", Prior said. FAO: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has allocated $5.7 million to save livestock that has survived the floods. FAO official in Pakistan David Doolan stressed that his organisation's immediate priority was to feed surviving livestock, which is the mainstay of rural economy. Deepak Bajracharia of UNICEF said, "We have been able to reach only 10 to 15 percent of the affected people. Approximately 3.5 million children face threat of diarrhoea". |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 I still don't see how that idiot Ban Ki moon said this is a greter disaster than the 2004 tsunami! |
| Posted by: chris 2010-08-20 10:25 |
| #2 they have plenty of mud now. just build what you where living in before. |
| Posted by: chris 2010-08-20 10:24 |
| #1 I'm generating CO2 & warming the globe so they won't be cold without shelter. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-08-20 09:14 |