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Flood-affected families
head to safe areas in Muzaffargarh near Multan, Pakistan, on Friday
(Photo:
Associated Press) |
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UN
launches aid appeal for flood victims in Pakistan
The United Nations has launched an
appeal for $459m to help the victims of devastating floods that have
affected more than 14 million people across
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New Delhi:
The Central Government has offered assistance of five million US
dollars for provision of relief material from India for the victims
of the massive floods that have adversely affected Pakistan, causing
widespread damage to life and property.
After writing to his Pakistani counterpart last week condoling
deaths in the floods, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on
Friday called up Shah Mahmood Qureshi and offered aid of five
million US dollars in ''this hour of need''.
"Krishna telephoned Qureshi and
expressed solidarity with the people of Pakistan in handling the
devastation caused by the floods - the worst in more than eight
decades, claiming over 1,700 lives and affecting 14 million people,"
a Ministry of External Affairs release said.
The External Affairs Minister, on
behalf of the people and Government of India, also conveyed deepest
sympathies and condolences to the people and Government of Pakistan,
on this natural disaster.
The telephonic conversation was the
first direct engagement between the two ministers after their
meeting in Islamabad on July 15 which ended on an acrimonious note.
Since then, the only engagement between the two countries has been
through condolence messages; Pakistan on a train accident in India
and New Delhi on the floods and the air crash in Islamabad.
The Indian offer for assistance to
Pakistan in this hour of trial comes two days after the United
Nations issued an appeal for $460 million as emergency aid for the
flood-affected millions across the length and breadth of the
country.
According to UN figures, more than
1,600 have died and nearly 300,000 homes have been damaged or
destroyed in one of the worst floods in Pakistan in recent years.
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