UN Secretary General calls for ‘massive aid’ to Pakistan

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “massive” international aid to the country during a visit to flood-ravaged Pakistan.

He made the call after Islamabad cited their flood damage at $3 trillion, Reuters reported.

The devastating floods caused by unprecedented record rains and melting glaciers in the northern mountains washed away numerous homes, roads, railways, bridges, livestock and crops in the country, killing more than 1,400 people.

Large parts of the country are still under water, forcing millions to leave their homes.

The government of Pakistan says that 300 million people in the country have suffered due to this flood.

Both Guterres and the country’s government blame global climate change for the floods.

“Pakistan needs massive financial assistance based on the preliminary estimate of $3 billion in damage, so I am appealing to the international community (to help them),” he told a joint press conference in the capital Islamabad after a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on a two-day visit to Pakistan. Gutierrez.

Sharif said Pakistan needs unlimited funding for relief operations. He also commented that the country will remain in trouble until adequate international assistance is received.

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In another press conference, Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the damage caused by the flood is expected to reduce GDP growth by 3 to 5 percent in the fiscal year 2022-23.

The United Nations has also launched an appeal for $160 million in aid to Pakistan to help it adapt to the disaster.

In addition to meeting with Sharif and the country’s foreign minister Bilwal Bhutto-Zardari, Guterres is also scheduled to visit flood-affected areas during his visit to Pakistan.

In a press conference after the meeting with Guterres, Bilwal said that Pakistan is waiting for the rescue and relief phase of the crisis to be completed before calling a donor conference on reconstruction work.

“When there is a 100 km long lake in the middle of Pakistan, tell me, how big a drainage channel can I build to drain this water? There is no man-made structure that can remove this water,” he said.

Guterres said the world should understand how dire the impact of climate change is on low-income countries.

“The international community should realize this, especially those countries, which contribute more to climate change than others,” he said.

According to the World Health Organization, more than 6.4 million people in Pakistan’s flood-affected areas are in need of humanitarian assistance.

Meanwhile, huge costs of debris removal and reconstruction after the floods have raised concerns about Pakistan’s debt repayment capacity.

The country’s government bond prices have been falling for the past three weeks, in some cases nearly halving face value. International investors fear the country could become insolvent.