United Nations Radio

United Nations agencies and their partners in Pakistan are stepping up relief efforts as the number of people affected by the floods tops 17 million.

WFP warehouse

The United Nations humanitarian agency (OCHA) says the number of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance has increased to 8 million from the 6 million estimated a week ago.

The agency points out that the area affected by the floods is larger than England with over 3 million hectares of crops destroyed or damaged and more than 1.2 million homes destroyed leaving close to 5 million people without shelter.

The outgoing head of OCHA John Holmes says the international community is scaling up its efforts as fast as it can in support of what the Pakistani government is able to do.

"Nearly two million people have been reached now with food, two-and-a-half million people with clean water. We have distributed so far in terms of shelter more than 115,000 tents and 77,000 tarpaulins, which again is enough for 1.1 million people. Of course there are huge numbers needed there too.

On the health front, OCHA spokesperson in Pakistan, Stacey Winston says the relief agencies are concerned about diseases as ongoing floods cause more displacement.

"The World Health Organization is opening diarrhoea treatment clinics because the most vulnerable children and the elderly, expectant mothers are susceptible to disease when you have stagnant water around for a long time as these floods have been ongoing now for almost a month, also the vector-borne disease as well from mosquitoes."

Stacey Winston says the health agencies are trying to mitigate any disease outbreak as best they can by providing emergency health kits, hygiene kits, cholera kits and other medical supplies and medication.

 Gail Walker, United Nations Radio.

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