Asian Development Bank gives Rs. 261 million for flood-affected people Sindh and Balochistan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) granted Rs. 261 million to Pakistan to help the rehabilitation processes for the recent flood-affected people in the province of Sindh and Balochistan on Thursday.

The donation was granted from the Asia-Pacific Disaster Response Fund, which will assist the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to provide food, drinking water, medicines and tents for the hundreds of thousands of suffering
people in the water-drowned areas of lower Sindh and Balochistan.

“The ADB stands by the people of Pakistan in these difficult times. We hope that the grant will increase the NDMA’s ability to reach out to poor and the most vulnerable groups, particularly women and children, facing a desperate
situation. Many families have lost their entire belongings and source of livelihood and are in urgent need of food and shelter,” stated Dr. Werner Liepach, the ADB’s country director for Pakistan.

Secretary of Economic Affairs Division, Abdul Wajid Rana, signed the agreement with Dr. Liepach on Thursday to accept the grant. According to an estimate by the United Nations, 5.4 million people have been badly affected by the
heavy rains and floods in 2011.

Early estimates of NDMA stated that about 580,000 to 645,000 houses have been partially or fully damaged, taking 413 lives and inflicting injuries to 700 people. The actual figures of the people affected by the natural disaster
are said to be a lot higher then these.

ADB also provided a $650 million loan to Pakistan earlier this year for the purpose of reconstruction of vital of essential infrastructure damaged by the ravaging floods of 2010. The Flood Emergency Reconstruction Project (FERP)
was initiated and it has been building national and provincial road networks, irrigation systems and flood protection structures to revive economic activities in the country.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated that only 22 per cent of the assessed funding requirements have been received so far against the Rapid Response Plan, which was launched in September this
year. Needs for more funds have risen immensely with the onset of winter, outbreak of disaster and beginning of the Rabi planting season.

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Posted by Farhan Hameed on Oct 29 2011. Filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry