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UNICEF issues a new appeal for the 10 million children affected by the flooding in Pakistan

GENEVA, 21 September 2010 - UNICEF today issued a report on the flooding emergency in Pakistan saying that, "with over 10 million children hit by the flooding, the humanitarian crisis in Pakistan is so massive that the actual scale continues to elude the imagination of the public across the world."

See report: Children in Pakistan - Every Child's Right - Responding to the Floods in Pakistan (PDF)

Recognising the enormity of the crisis and with needs increasing, UNICEF has revised its appeal to US$ 252.3 million.  This amount will cover a 12 month period from August 2010 to end of July 2011. UNICEF at present has a funding gap of US$ 160.8 million.

With more than 20 million people affected, the Pakistan emergency exceeds the combined number of people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. At the height of the floods, approximately one-fifth of the country was underwater. The flooding has destroyed large tracts of agricultural land and crops within an already food-insecure country.

The UNICEF report notes that some areas of Pakistan, notably Sindh Province, continue to be flooded and hundreds of thousands of people are still being evacuated. In other areas, as flood waters recede, people are moving back to their homes.  Livelihoods have been destroyed in areas where people were already struggling to meet their daily survival requirements before the floods. The emergency is by no means over and the impact of the floods will be felt for years, even decades, says the report.

UNICEF's humanitarian operation in Pakistan focuses on water and sanitation, nutrition, health, education and child protection.

In water and sanitation, UNICEF is collectively reaching over 6 million people with a combination of safe water supplies and water treatment for families. This includes water trucking, water treatment plants and repair of wells.

In health, over half a million children under five years of age have been immunized against polio and more than 420,000 children against measles. Key nutrition supplies are reaching over 375,000 children under-five and over 50,000 pregnant and lactating women.

Some 35,000 children have access to educational and recreational services and 26,000 children and women have received psycho-social support.

For more information, please contact:
Marixie Mercado, UNICEF Geneva;
Tel + 41 22 9095716;
mmercado@unicef.org

Patrick McCormick, UNICEF New York;
Tel + 1 212 326 7426;
pmccormick@unicef.org

Kristen Elsby, UNICEF Islamabad;
Tel + 92 300 500 2595;
kelsby@unicef.org