Foreign
THE Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to boost Pakistan’s efforts to recover after devastating floods, as the country’s prime minister called for more global aid.
The money is the highest amount pledged so far to help the South Asian nation cope with the worse floods in its history, more than 2,000 people were killed.
The bulk of the aid is aimed at building resilience against climate crises in future, according to a statement released after a meeting between ADB country director, Yong Ye, and Pakistani Finance Minister,Ishaq Dar.
The floods, triggered by record monsoon rains starting in mid-June, affected 33 million people and submerged a third of Pakistan, an area larger than the size of Britain.
Nearly four million people were infected by waterborne diseases after the flooding, mostly in the southern province of Sindh where large swathes of land remain inundated.
The United Nations this week increased its initial flash appeal five-fold to 816 million U.S. dollars.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, said on Thursday that the international aid announced so far were, however, “not enough.”
“The enormity of this climate-induced catastrophe is beyond our means,” Sharif said at a press conference in the capital Islamabad. (dpa/NAN)
A.I
Tags: Asian Development Bank Shehbaz Sharif
