‘More than 5 mn people in Pak affected by floods’

WFP says the agency has so far distributed food rations among more than 2.9 million people.

UN aid agencies have said over five million people in Pakistan,more than half of them being children and women,require humanitarian help after their houses were destroyed in the country’s floods.

The UN and Pakistani government have completed a joint assessment of the situation and found that the five million in need are mainly in Sindh and Balochistan provinces,with 25 per cent of them women and 50 per cent children.

UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Gaelle Sevenier said in Geneva that the agency has so far distributed food rations among more than 2.9 million people and requires another $70 million out of the $133 million it originally requested to finance its operations.

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The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said about one third of the affected villages are still under water,and a large number of water sources have been contaminated.

The agency’s spokesperson Marixie Mercado said the most urgent risks to children are those related to safe water and malnutrition,with malnutrition rates in the affected areas already found to be high before the floods began.

Almost 800,000 homes have been destroyed or badly damaged in the floods,which began in August,and nearly 750,000 people were still displaced as at the end of October.

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