Mitchell: Britain to give major aid boost to Pakistan

20 September 2010

The UK will provide a substantial boost to Pakistan’s emergency relief and recovery by committing a further £70m, British International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced today (Sunday 19 September) at the United Nations in New York.

The announcement comes in response to the United Nations’ revised appeal to provide relief and recovery support for the next 12 months for up to 14 million people affected by the floods.

Andrew Mitchell made clear Britain was expressing strong support for the appeal from Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General and Emergency Relief Co-ordinator at UN OCHA [Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs], and that Britain would do everything it could to help drive forward the UN’s relief efforts.

The UK contribution will help the people of Pakistan rebuild their lives with £60m helping people get back to work, re-starting agriculture, and getting children back to school.  UK support will help by:

• Providing seeds, tools and livestock to help people re-start their farms
• Helping up to 2m people rebuild their shattered communities and giving short-term employment opportunities
• Getting hundreds of thousands of children back to school.  More than 8000 schools were destroyed in the floods.

The remaining contribution will target specific lifesaving relief to south Pakistan, to help avert a public health emergency there. 

Speaking at the UN in New York, Andrew Mitchell said:

“The sheer generosity of the UK public through the DEC [Disasters Emergency Committee] appeal in Britain should urge on governments around the world who are in a position to help.  Britain will continue its leading role, standing by Pakistan in its hour of need.

 “Grave challenges lie ahead as people in Pakistan begin to recover from the floods: over one million farm animals and six million poultry have been lost; and three and a half million hectares of crops have been damaged or destroyed.

“Aid so far has focused on keeping people alive. We need to continue to focus hard on the public health dangers, which remain extremely serious.

“But we also now need to start helping people to get back on their feet. With four out of five people affected by the floods dependent on farming, it is vital that we replace lost seeds, grains, and tools before the critical planting season next month and in November.

“And with the school year starting shortly, but more than 8,000 schools destroyed or being used as temporary housing, it’s vital we help get children back into education”.

The United Nations session on the Pakistan Floods brings together donors from around the world, to call for more support and set out the next steps on how to help Pakistan begin to recover.

The UK was one of the first countries to respond to this crisis. Today’s announcement of £70m comes in addition to the £64m previously committed, bringing the total UK Government’s contribution to £134m.

Exact allocations to partner agencies and Non-Government Organisations will be made based on analysis of needs and priorities, capacity, effectiveness and value for money. More detail of allocations will be available once programming decisions are made over the coming weeks.

UK aid is already providing immediate lifesaving aid including funding towards UN airlifts; twelve planes funded by DFID packed full of vital aid; emergency shelter, safe drinking water, and latrines for millions of people; one month food packages for nearly one million people; an emergency field camp in the worst affected area near Sukkur; help for half a million malnourished children and pregnant/breastfeeding women; emergency health care; bridges shipped from the UK, and more.