UNHCR scales up response to catastrophic floods in Pakistan
GENEVA - UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, is mobilizing resources and staff to expand aid to Pakistan to support communities and refugees affected by catastrophic flooding. Officials in our country say that the magnitude of the disaster the country is experiencing is unimaginable. Many are living in the open and waiting for help as local authorities and humanitarian organizations rush to reach more people. Others hide in shelters or stay with their hosts. An estimated 33 million people were affected by the weekly intense monsoon rains and widespread flooding that killed more than 1,100 and injured nearly 1,600 and caused decades of unseen devastation. UNHCR is working with disaster relief agencies in Pakistan to rapidly evacuate thousands of tents and blankets, plastic sheets, buckets and other household items from areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. auxiliary devices. Aid is also being delivered to affected areas in the southern province of Sindh...