Pakistan is out of money to spend on recovery from devastating floods, its climate change minister said on Tuesday, urging prompt international help at the UN launch of an aid appeal as funds needed by the country were ramped up five-fold.
The United Nations revised up its humanitarian aid appeal for Pakistan five-fold to $816 million from $160 million, as a surge of water-borne diseases and fear of growing hunger pose new dangers after weeks of unprecedented flooding linked to climate warming.
The meeting was told that the UN has received only $90 million so far out of the $160-million previous appeal for aid.
“We have no space to give our economy a stimulus package, which would create jobs, and provide people with the sustainable incomes they need,” the climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, told the conference in Geneva aimed at seeking aid for Pakistan.
She urged the developed world to accelerate funding for the ongoing domestic climate-linked disaster, terming it “the meta-climate event of a century.”
Pakistan has already dispersed cash handouts worth $264 million to 2.47 million people affected by the disaster, she added.
She said 7.9 million people have been displaced.