WFP steps up humanitarian support to government relief efforts as Pakistan reels from devastating floods

The expanded assistance provided by WFP and its humanitarian partners to flood-affected families will include food relief, malnutrition prevention and livelihoods support. WFP will also give logistics support for the response. But US$ 34 million is urgently needed to ramp up relief operations. 

Here is an update on the situation and WFP response:

 

Situation

• Starting in mid-June 2022, flooding and landslides caused by heavy rainfall - nearly 3 times the national 30-year average, and more than 5 times the 30-year average in some provinces, brought widespread destruction and loss of life and livelihoods.
• Over 1000 people died, hundreds more were injured, while housing, infrastructure, livelihoods and farming all sustained significant damage.
• Nearly one million homes, 3,000 km of roads and 150 bridges have been damaged or destroyed. 800,000 heads of livestock died, and two million acres of crops have been devastated.
• The Government declared a national emergency, with 72 districts declared ‘calamity hit’ – mostly in Balochistan and Sindh, the two worst-affected provinces, as well as in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.
• The humanitarian situation is expected to worsen as rains continue to fall. Poor access and connectivity are also hampering the relief efforts led by the Government.

WFP response

• WFP and its humanitarian partners are expanding their operations to help the Government reach the families and communities stranded in the flooded areas – through WFP’s field offices in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.
• WFP has already assisted over 168,000 people with food and livelihoods assistance in five districts in Balochistan. Food distributions for another 117,000 people in Sindh Province will begin in the coming days. However, some distributions have been disrupted due to heavy rains and limited access to flood-affected families.
• As part of the UN flash appeal - being launched today - WFP aims to reach up to 1 million people in the coming months with food, nutrition, and livelihoods assistance, including 31,000 children and 28,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women with specialized nutritious foods to prevent malnutrition.
• WFP is planning to establish a logistics augmentation unit to work with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to help with storage, management, and dispatch of relief items.
• After concluding the relief response, WFP plans to implement recovery activities in the five flood-affected districts in Balochistan until early 2023 with rehabilitation activities to restore infrastructure and livelihoods of the affected population.
• To scale-up, meet immediate needs and bolster government relief efforts, WFP needs US$ 34 million.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

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