Pakistan: EU helps coordinate incoming assistance for flood victims

Following the request of assistance from the Pakistani authorities, the EU is coordinating incoming aid offers to help the country face the ongoing emergency of extensive flooding. Offers received so far from EU Member States include: 300 family tents from Belgium and another 300 from Sweden; 83 mobile water pumps, 200 family tents, 1,000 ground sheets, 200 kitchen kits, 400 hygiene kits, a team of eight doctors and four technicians and one bailey bridge from France; a water purification team from Denmark and 400,000 antigen tests and 10,000 examination gloves from Austria. The European Civil Protection Mechanism is also deploying one Liaison Officer to help coordinate the arrival of further aid. The assistance comes on top of €2,150,000 in EU humanitarian funding released over the past weeks to support families affected by flash floods and new humanitarian funding of €200,000 for the Disaster Response Emergency Fund, released today. In addition, the EU’s Copernicus satellite service has been activated to collect data to support the assessment of the situation in the most affected areas. Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: “The dramatic scale of the flooding emergency in Pakistan and the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation has triggered immediate EU support. Shelter, food and health are only some of the several pressing needs of this complex emergency demanding to be addressed in the shortest period of time. We stand in solidarity with Pakistan and reaffirm our commitment to support people affected by these devastating floods.”