UNITED NATIONS, Sep 08 (APP): The UN flash appeal for $160 million to help millions of people affected by record-breaking floods in Pakistan is so far 21 percent funded, having received $34 million, a UN spokesman said Thursday, as Secretary-General Antonio Guterres headed to Islamabad for a solidarity visit.
The UN chief launched the appeal on Aug 30, and Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said more contributions were expected in the coming days.
Meanwhile, UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, announced an emergency amount of $350,000 to help recovering flood-damaged cultural heritage sites. The agency said it was also working in the field of education, to quickly provide distance learning solutions.
Guterres will be accompanied on the two-day trip to Pakistan by Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
The flooding has killed more than 1,300 people and displaced 33 million.
In Islamabad on Friday, Guterres will meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other senior government officials.
The secretary-general, along with his delegation, will then inspect flood-affected areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces. He will return to New York on Sept 11.
While launching the appeal, the UN chief had said that Pakistan’s flooding, caused by weeks of unprecedented monsoon rains, was a signal to the world to step up action against climate change.
“Let’s stop sleepwalking toward the destruction of our planet by climate change,” he said in a video message to an Islamabad ceremony launching the funding appeal.
“Today, it’s Pakistan. Tomorrow, it could be your country.”
