WORLD
PAKISTANI ENVOY: BILLIONS NEEDED TO REBUILD AFTER FLOODS
Baku, August 18 (AZERTAC). Pakistan`s ambassador to the United Nations, speaking in Geneva, says billions of dollars will be needed to rehabilitate and reconstruct Pakistan, which has been devastated by the worst floods in more than a generation, according to VOAnews. The ambassador is pleading for greater support from the international community to answer the desperate needs of more than 20 million flood victims, many of whom have seen their homes and livelihoods destroyed.
Pakistani Ambassador Zamir Akram predicts a bleak future for his country if greater international support is not forthcoming. He says the scale of the disaster is enormous and the tragedy is continuing to unfold.
He notes an area the size of England, is covered by the floodwaters. He says the Indus River, which runs from North to South into the Arabian Sea, in normal time is three kilometers in its widest part. Since the floods, this has swelled to a width of 35 kilometers.
The ambassador says more than one million hectares of the country`s food and cash crops have been destroyed. He says damage to roads, bridges, health clinics, schools and other infrastructure is extensive.
Akram says the relief and rescue phase of the operation is expensive. But, adds this pales in comparison to the cost of rebuilding the country.
“Initial indicators are that just for the northern part of Pakistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, the requirement would be in the tune of about $2.5 billion,” Akram said. “So, it is going to be a massive effort for reconstruction and rehabilitation. And, according to our estimate, the time it would take would be around five years.”