UN seeks aid for Pakistanis
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The UN has launched an international appeal for 537 million U.S. dollars for humanitarian agencies on the ground in Pakistan to assist those populations displaced by conflict in the northwest region, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.
The appeal is enough to cover the immediate needs over the course of a six-month period for vulnerable populations, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told a news briefing here at the UN Headquarters in New York.
"Last year's response plan enabled humanitarian community to reach more than four million people in need of assistance -- that includes some 3.1 people who were displaced from their homes in northwestern Pakistan," he said.
According to a press release from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the requirements needed to meet immediate needs are part of the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan (PHRP) for 2010 -- a collaborative effort between UN humanitarian agencies, as well as national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government of Pakistan.
"In addition to the direct relief assistance to internally displaced people, the main humanitarian activities in 2010 will be the distribution of food, the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure and the assistance to farmers who lost their crops due to hostilities and displacement," the press release said.
"The PHRP draws largely from the humanitarian experience of 2008 and 2009," the press release read.
The response plan for 2010 will be used in coordination with humanitarian activities and projects to meet the needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have fled from hostilities in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Federally Administrated Tribal Area (FATA), the press release said.
Pakistani security forces are conducting operations against Taliban militants in the northwest tribal area including areas bordering Afghanistan.
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