ISLAMABAD (AP) — The World Bank said it would provide about $2 billion in aid to Pakistan, ravaged by floods that killed more than 1,600 people this year, the largest aid pledge yet. .
Unprecedented monsoon rains and flooding this year – which many experts attribute to climate change – have also injured some 13,000 people across the country since mid-June. The floods displaced millions of people and destroyed crops, half a million homes and thousands of kilometers (miles) of roads.
World Bank Vice President for South Asia Martin Raiser announced the engagement in a statement overnight after wrapping up his first official visit to the country on Saturday.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives and livelihoods due to the devastating floods and we are working with the federal and provincial governments to provide immediate relief to those most affected,” he said.
Raiser met with federal ministers and the chief minister of southern Sindh province, the worst affected region, where he visited the hard-hit Dadu district.
Thousands of makeshift medical camps for flood survivors have been set up in the province, where the National Disaster Management Authority said outbreaks of typhoid, malaria and dengue fever had killed at least 300 people.
The death toll prompted the World Health Organization last week to sound the alarm about a “second disaster” as doctors on the ground rushed to battle outbreaks.
“In immediate response, we are reallocating funds from existing World Bank-funded projects to meet urgent health, food, shelter, rehabilitation and cash transfer needs,” Raiser said.
The World Bank agreed last week during a meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to provide $850 million in aid to flood victims in Pakistan. The $2 billion figure includes that amount.
Raiser said the bank was working with provincial authorities to begin repairing infrastructure and housing as soon as possible and “restoring livelihoods, and to help build Pakistan’s resilience to climate-related risks”. We’re looking at about $2 billion in funding for that. »
Over the past two months, Pakistan has sent nearly 10,000 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to care for survivors in Sindh province.