Islamabad: British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson has said that the Britain was at the forefront of the international response, and consistently put pressure on other countries to play their part.
Speaking to a news conference on Friday, the British convoy stated that the British government has contributed more than Rs. 18.5 billion to help millions of people affected by the floods in Pakistan besides 10 billion rupees from British public that has been changing the life of the people in affected areas.
Giving details of UK help for the flood affected people here at UK High Commission, he said, “The British public really opened their hearts to the Pakistan people, donating nearly 10 billion rupees out of their own pockets, on top of the 18.5 billion rupees contributed by the UK government.”
This brings the total contribution from the UK to well over 28 billion rupees, plus millions more from smaller British charities and local fund-raising activities.
He said, “This reinforces the warm and unbreakable bond between the people of UK and Pakistan.”
The British High Commissioner said the UK is committed to being better prepared to deal with future disasters, and build up the resilience of local communities.
Ahead of the 2011 monsoon, the UK is helping to set-up and equip, via the Red Cross, 12 Disaster Management Cells across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh.
These Cells provide a hub for logistics and a base for staff to work, and will house emergency items such as tents and blankets for 35,000 people each, to enable a quick response in any future disasters.
The DFID has built in disaster risk reduction to all its programmes, such as disease early warning systems to avoid mass outbreaks.
The 2010 floods in Pakistan were the worst the world has ever recorded, killing nearly two thousand people, destroying some 10,000 schools and two million homes, forcing 14 million people to flee from their homes, and wiping out thousands of bridges, roads and electricity pylons. More than two million hectares of crops (an area the size of Wales) were lost, as well as one million farm animals and six million poultry.
