Members of the Hussain family try to salvage their belongings from their flood-damaged home in Fazilpur, Punjab province - AFP
Ambassador Khan Thanks US for Additional Flood Relief of $20m
Washington: Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan thanked United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Ms Samantha Power on Saturday for announcing an additional $20 million financial assistance for flood relief in Pakistan.
The additional aid takes the total of the US aid volume to $51.1 million.
“The people of Pakistan are grateful to you for your presence in Pakistan at this difficult hour and for enhancing humanitarian assistance for the flood victims,” said Ambassador Khan.
“Ms Samantha Power is a dynamic leader who has always championed humanitarian causes,” Khan added.
The ambassador had written a letter to Ms Power on August 26, 2022, apprising her of the scale of the calamity and the widespread destruction caused by the unprecedented floods.
“As we strive to mitigate the suffering of our people and cope with this colossal calamity, we would continue to count on your support,” the ambassador wrote.
“The United States stands with Pakistan during this difficult hour,” Power responded.
She also said that the USAID was monitoring the situation in close coordination with staff, partners and Pakistani officials. She said she will be visiting Pakistan to see the team’s work first-hand, hear directly from the people and communities affected, and learn how the United States can deepen its support in the weeks and months ahead.
“The US Agency for International Development will continue to support the Government of Pakistan in its efforts to save lives, reduce suffering, and secure a sustainable recovery,” Power wrote in her letter.
She visited Pakistan on September 8 and 9 to assess the situation on ground, meet affected communities and find ways to enhance the US' support for the country passing through a difficult time.
Power met with UN Secretary General António Guterres and thanked him for visiting Pakistan and working to rally a far more substantial global response. She also met members of the US military working alongside Pakistani authorities and the USAID team.
Sharing her experiences after witnessing the magnitude of the calamity, Power tweeted that she had “never seen so much water on land, melted glaciers & unprecedented monsoon rains flooded one-third of the country.”
“USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team is on ground supporting government efforts to get food, shelter & medicine to those most impacted,” she added. - The Express Tribune
