BRUSSELS, BELGIUM/ The European Commission boosts it’s funding for emergency relief to Pakistan adding € 6.5 million to the so far € 98 million given along 2011 to the Asian country.

The victims help will be arriving to the most affected people in Sindh province. This second successive year of flooding is affecting over 5.4 million people and has so far displaced more than  1.8 million.

Bad years

In 2010 major floods impacted Pakistan making the present situation catastrophic. The European Union is sending the humanitarian through partners in the field including non-governmental organisations, specialised UN agencies, and the Red Cross/Crescent movement.

The Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) deployed an EU civil protection team of five experts to Pakistan to co-ordinate assistance provided by European countries through the civil protection mechanism. The 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Croatia, Liechtenstein and Norway pool resources that can be made available to disaster-stricken countries all over the world.

Pakistan is again facing the humanitarian consequences of armed violence, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, Baluchistan and Karachi, and a natural disaster.

Rainy times

The last two rainy seasons in Pakistan have caused devastating floods creating another emergency in the country. Since the second week of August 2011 monsoon rain has flooded various parts of Pakistan, with the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan most severely affected.

The floods hit some of the same provinces of Pakistan as last year's floods, where the resilience of the local population remains very low. In addition new areas are now covered in water.

In 2010, the European Union provided a generous humanitarian response to last year's floods, amounting to € 423 million. The funding will focused on rural development, natural resources management and on education and human resources management. A disaster risk reduction and preparedness are an integral part of the implementation of these funds.