Pakistan receives nearly eight billion euros in aid after the flood disaster

Total damages are estimated at $30 billion. The Secretary-General of the United Nations considers the country a victim of climate change.

Pakistan Receive more financial aid for the country’s post-flood reconstruction than initially requested at an international donor conference. On Monday, Pakistan’s Information Minister Maryum Aurangzeb said aid pledges amounted to $8.57 billion. Pakistan He had asked the international community for eight billion dollars in financial assistance.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said, on Monday, at the start of an international donor conference in Geneva, which will be attended by representatives of about 40 countries, in addition to donors from the private sector and international financial institutions, that this amount is urgently needed in the next three years. Sharif called for the formation of a “coalition of the willing.” Overall, the cost of reconstruction is now estimated at more than $16 billion. Last year’s devastating floods killed at least 1,700 people and affected millions, many of them losing their homes. Damage is estimated at $30 billion.

victims of climate change

United nations.– Secretary General Antonio Guterres He campaigned for massive support for the Pakistan. The country has become a victim of climate change. Creative ways to help developing countries such as PakistanTo provide access to debt relief and financing options. President of France Emmanuel Macron She promised ten million dollars in financial assistance in a video message.

According to the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, there is an alarming number of malnourished children, many with life-threatening malaria, in the affected areas. According to Welthungerhilfe, only nine million of the more than 30 million affected have received assistance. Heatwaves can be expected again in February and many fear that temperatures will be even higher than in 2022.

Little faith in politics

Society’s confidence in the political leadership is not high. A significant part of the country’s budget is spent on the army, which has nuclear weapons. Shortly before the 2022 disaster, a coalition of politicians who previously had to defend themselves against allegations of corruption came to power.

For all the criticism of the ruling, one thing is clear: Pakistan It has always experienced severe weather disasters, but it is being exacerbated by climate change. in addition to Pakistan He contributed practically nothing. It emits less than one percent of the greenhouse gases harmful to the global climate annually. A team led by German climate researcher Friedrich Otto calculated that climate change increased maximum rainfall in the southern provinces by up to 50 percent over five days.

(APA / Reuters / dpa)