MFC News

Thousands of emergency shelters, water purifiers and hygiene kits from the UK left Dubai for Pakistan on Tuesday.

The aid items were paid for by the British government as part of a £41.5 million (Dh163m) pledge to support millions of people displaced by floods in Pakistan.

Emergency shelters are intended for up to 187,050 people while water filters and hygiene supplies should be enough for up to 31,282 people.

Pallets loaded up into shipping containers will arrive in Karachi within five days and life-saving supplies will be delivered to the worst affected areas.

Catastrophic flooding in Pakistan has left more than 250,000 square kilometres of land submerged, displacing 33 million people and destroying huge stretches of farmland as global food prices rice.

More than 1,600 people have been killed and about 2 million homes have been destroyed.

Heavy monsoon rains that fell in mid-June added to a severe heatwave that melted glaciers and caused flooding across the country.

Central to the UK-funded relief operation is the Modern Freight Company in the Jebel Ali Free Zone, which has been working with the British government to deliver aid to disaster zones around the world since 2005.

The Dubai storage facility houses 80 per cent of all the UK’s global humanitarian aid, due to its prime location offering ease of access to global disaster hotspots.

“Dubai is an efficient global hub that allows us to act speedily during times of crisis,” said Patrick Moody, British ambassador to the UAE.

“We have given £16.5 million directly from the government, £25m from the British people themselves — they consistently do this to top up what the government is already doing when disasters happen.

“The UAE’s We Stand Together initiative is working well and shows the importance of strong partnerships.

“The British government is committed to this kind of action, and humanitarian work will continue to be one of our bedrocks, although we would like to solve the problems that cause these disasters in the first place.”

To read it in The National News : click here