UN requests $357 million for flood-hit Pakistan

The United Nations has launched an appeal to raise $357 million to help more than 5 million people left destitute by the rains and flooding in southern Pakistan. The funds would aim to provide food, water, sanitation services, healthcare and emergency shelter to the worst-hit families for six months in Sindh and Balochistan. Nearly 1 million homes have been destroyed and 72 percent of crops ruined in the worst-affected areas. At least 824,000 people have been forced to move into makeshift shelters on higher ground, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). "More than 5 million people are struggling to survive massive flooding across southern Pakistan, and the rains continue to fall. They have lost their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods," the U.N.’s aid chief, Valerie Amos, said in a statement. "The next few days will be crucial, as the U.N. and partners help the government to get food, safe water and shelter to the most vulnerable. One year after the largest floods in recent history, the people of Pakistan are in desperate need again. We cannot let them down.", Amos added. (