Estonian Rescuers to Help Residents of Flooded Pakistan
15.09.2010
No 262-E
The Foreign Ministry is supporting two experts from the Rescue Board as they embark to help Pakistan, which has suffered from heavy flooding. As part of an international team, the Estonian experts will head to the city of Sukkur to erect a base camp for UN humanitarian aid workers.
Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that Pakistan is standing face to face with the greatest humanitarian and natural disaster in the country’s recent history. “The Estonian experts are heading to Pakistan within the framework of International Humanitarian Partnership upon the request of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,” stated Foreign Minister Urmas Paet. “The regions affected by the floods are the poorest in the nation. Nearly 900 000 homes have been destroyed. Because of the floods, close to 15 million people have either lost their homes or been forced to leave their homes for the time being. Almost 1 500 have lost their lives,” said Foreign Minister Paet.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued an appeal for help to the countries of the International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP) yesterday to build a base camp in the city of Sukkur in Pakistan for UN humanitarian aid workers. The erection and further servicing of the base camp will be the collective operation of the IHP and will include the participation of Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Finland. As of January of this year, Estonia has been participating along with other IHP countries in a similar operation in Haiti.
The region around the city of Sukkur is one of the regions that has suffered the most as a result of the flooding in Pakistan, and a great number of UN humanitarian aid workers are going there to co-ordinate the distribution of aid.
Soon after the disaster began, Estonia provided food aid totalling one million kroons through the UN World Food Programme (UNWFP) for those suffering due to floods caused by heavy monsoon rains. The Estonian humanitarian aid for alleviating the situation of the Pakistani people is being allocated from the Foreign Ministry’s development and humanitarian aid budget.
In addition, member of the Estonian Rescue Board Gert Teder went to Pakistan as part of the European Union assessment and co-ordination team. The goal of the EU assessment mission was to evaluate the most urgent needs of the residents and co-ordinate arriving aid.
