Pak to launch international appeal to help cope with flood crisis

Islamabad: The Pakistan government has decided to launch an international appeal to help cope with the disastrous flood situation in the country which was triggered by incessant rainfall in July and has claimed the lives of 830 people so far.
This decision was taken during an urgent briefing on the flood emergency in Pakistan by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday, reports Dawn news.
In addition to looking outward for assistance to mitigate the devastation caused by abnormal monsoon rainfall, Prime Minister Shehabaz Sharif also appealed to the nation to extend help to the flood-stricken people as the government required hundreds of billions to rehabilitate the victims.
Also Read Pakistan Met Dept warns of more rain, floods “The current relief operation needs 80 billion PKR and hundreds of billions of rupees also required to overcome the losses as well as for rehabilitation of the victims,” Dawn news quoted the premier as saying in a video message.
Sharif said his government was already distributing 37.2 billion PKR as cash relief, whereas funds to the tune of 5 billion PKR had “immediately” been released to the NDMA to accelerate the rescue efforts.
He added that 5,000 PKR cash assistance was being paid to the flood victims.