THE UNITED NATIONS ON WEDNESDAY LAUNCHED A $38 MILLION APPEAL TO AID HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN SOUTHWEST PAKISTAN AFTER LAST MONTH'S CYCLONE YEMYIN LEFT WIDESPREAD FLOODING. NEARLY 300 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED, ALMOST 200 ARE MISSING, 377,000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISPLACED, AND 2.5 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY FOUR DAYS OF HEAVY RAINS IN BALOCHISTAN AND SINDH, ACCORDING TO THE U.N. OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA). “UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES AND NGOS (NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS) ARE WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE PAKISTAN AUTHORITIES TO BRING URGENT ASSISTANCE TO THOSE AFFECTED BY THIS DISASTER,” U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR JOHN HOLMS SAID IN GENEVA. “I URGE THE WORLD TO RESPOND URGENTLY AND GENEROUSLY TO THIS APPEAL. IF WE DON'T ACT QUICKLY, THEIR PLIGHT IS LIKELY TO DETERIORATE FURTHER.” THERE IS AN ACUTE SHORTAGE OF DRINKING WATER, OCHA WARNED, NOTING THAT BY SUPPLYING ACCESS TO SANITATION AND HYGIENE, OUTBREAKS OF WATER-BORNE DISEASES WILL BE PREVENTED. “THE HUMANITARIAN COMMUNITY IS RELYING ON INTERNATIONAL DONORS TO FUND THIS FLASH APPEAL TO ENSURE THAT THE IMPACT OF THIS DISASTER IS CONTAINED, AND THAT THE MOST VULNERABLE RECEIVE THE ASSISTANCE THEY NEED,” SAID JAN VANDEMOORTELE, THE U.N. HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR FOR PAKISTAN. “THE CYCLONE HAS HIT ONE OF THE POOREST PARTS OF PAKISTAN. THE NEEDS AND CHALLENGES ARE IMMENSE.”
