Canada has announced an additional $25 million in funding to help Pakistan to recover from last year’s historic flooding, according to a statement released by Global Affairs Canada on Monday.
The funding will go toward supporting projects that align with the Government of Pakistan’s Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework, it reads.
Pakistan experienced “unprecedented rains and devastating floods” in the summer of 2022, which caused the deaths of more than 1,700 people and affected the lives of 33 million people across the country, the statement reads.
Not only were many homes in Pakistan destroyed, but other infrastructures were also damaged as well, with millions still living near stagnant flood waters to this day.
International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan said Canada is committed to helping Pakistanis as they continue to recover from “the widespread devastation caused by the country’s worst floods in recent history.”
“Because climate change is affecting the frequency, duration and intensity of weather events worldwide, it is essential that we support countries working to adapt to climate change and become more climate-resilient so that they are better prepared for these events and to lessen the events’ impact on communities and individuals,” Sajjan said in the statement.
Sajjan visited Pakistan in September 2022 to observe the impact on the ground, according to the statement.
To date, Canada has provided a total of $58 million in funding to Pakistan in response to the floods and for longer-term recovery from the floods, including the funding announced Monday.
According to the Post-Disaster Needs Assessment of the 2022 Pakistan Floods, the total damage is estimated at US$14.9 billion, and an estimate of $U.S. 16.3 billion is needed for Pakistan to recover from the floods.
Dozens of countries and international institutions committed more than $9 billion on Monday to support Pakistan at a United Nations conference in Geneva.
Pakistani Deputy Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the final tally came in above a target for the international community, while rest is expected to come from the Pakistani government itself.
The UN said in a conference that current funding raised for Pakistan’s flood victims will run out this month, and an emergency appeal launched in October has garnered only about a third of the $816 million sought.
UNICEF, the children’s agency, says only 37 per cent of a $173.5 million target for supporting flood-affected Pakistani women and children has been met.
Nearly 27,000 schools and nearly 1,500 public health facilities were destroyed, resulting in 2 million additional children having been locked out of learning and health-care treatments, according to UNICEF.
In some areas, food insecurity has reached emergency levels, in which nearly 15 million people need emergency food assistance.
In addition, millions of people have no access to safe drinking water due to damages to water supply systems and sanitation facilities.
— with files from The Associated Press
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