Dubai ruler sanctions AED50 million in aid to Pakistan as flood death toll tops 1,200

ISLAMABAD: Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum has sanctioned 50 million dirhams in emergency aid to Pakistan, the UAE embassy said Thursday night, as the death toll from monsoon downpours and floods surged past 1,200 in the South Asian nation.

Torrential rains and subsequent floods have killed at least 1,208 people, including 416 children, in Pakistan since the onset of monsoon season in mid-June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 6.4 million people are in dire need of humanitarian aid after rains destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes and water torrents washed away large swathes of prime farmland and road infrastructure in the South Asian country.

“H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, directs [to] provide emergency aid worth AED 50 million to the flood affectees of Pakistan in cooperation with WFP (World Food Programme) & Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Est,” the UAE embassy said late Thursday.

Pakistan’s planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal this week said early estimates put the damage from deadly floods at more than $10 billion.

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari simultaneously launched a flash appeal for $160 million for Pakistan to cope with flood devastation.

The United Kingdom on Thursday announced £15 million in humanitarian aid to Pakistan, while flood relief aid has been arriving on planes from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, China and Turkey.

Iqbal also said the world owed Pakistan, which was a victim of climate change caused by “irresponsible development of the developed world.”

Pakistan contributes less than 1 percent of global greenhouse emissions, but it is among the 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change.