Islamabad, Oct 2 (IANS) Over 2.5 million people affected by floods in Pakistan are in desperate need of food, drinking water and sanitation facilities, the UN has said.
According to Humaira Mehboob, an official of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), about 1.75 million people also require emergency shelter.
The country’s southern Sindh province has been devastated by floods since mid-August due to incessant rains.
Floods washed away entire communities and have left over five million people without adequate food, water, healthcare and shelter, the official APP news agency quoted her as saying Saturday.
Over 400 people were killed, 1.8 million displaced and over a million homes were destroyed or damaged.
Till date, more than 1.6 million people received medical aid, and over 400,000 people received food aid from the UN.
Safe drinking water has been delivered to approximately 200,000 people and the UN aims to double this to 400,000 in the coming weeks, the official added.
The UN has launched a rapid response plan to enable it and its partners to support Pakistan in addressing the emergency.
