UN to launch flood relief campaign for Pakistan

The UN is launching a “flash appeal” for flood relief in Pakistan today.

The appeal aims to raise roughly $160 million and will be launched simultaneously from Geneva and Islamabad. Search and rescue operations are still underway in the affected provinces, primarily Sindh and Balochistan, with over 33 million people affected by the floods and about 1000 fatalities. The humanitarian situation is deteriorating, with heavy rains continuing to cause flooding, and landslides resulting in increasing displacement of residents. Pakistan has reached out to friendly countries, donors, and international financial institutions – including Canada, Saudi Arabia and the World Food Program – for aid, but the international community has been slow to respond thus far. Flash appeals are generally launched when UN agencies and the government of the affected country are unable to respond effectively to sudden-onset disasters.

Expect that the flash appeal will fall short of its total funding goal, given a massive global deficit in funding for humanitarian initiatives. Expect also that fatality rates will continue to rise as humanitarian aid fails to meet the required levels, given the funding deficit and the inability of the Pakistani government to make up the shortfall, likely through assistance or loans from China.