By DPA,
Islamabad : The UN said Wednesday that it has secured almost half of the $460 million it requires in emergency assistance for flood victims in Pakistan.
“We have received $208 million and that makes 42.5 percent of the funds initially required,” Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan, told DPA.
“In addition to that we have some pledges and that makes the total funds secured at 54.5 percent,” added Giuliano. “It is definitely an improvement in the situation.”
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the floods, the most severe in Pakistan’s history, as the worst natural disaster he had ever seen, after visiting affected areas at the weekend.
Some 20 million people were displaced with one-fifth of the country still under water.
The global response to the crisis has been criticised for being slow. Some aid donors have seemed reluctant to contribute due to widespread corruption among the national authorities and amid concern that the funds might go to Islamists.
Fundamentalist groups wield considerable influence in Pakistan, and have been active in providing aid to the flood victims.