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KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday said that the havoc caused by floods during the last two years was a wake-up call for everyone to search for permanent solutions to natural disasters rooted in climate change.
He called upon the national and international experts and the United Nations (UN) agencies to devise workable plans for countering the vagaries of climate change.
The president was addressing representatives of various UN agencies engaged in relief and rehabilitation work in Sindh, at Bilawal House here on Friday.
The President said that food, shelter, water and sanitation, health and logistics were critical clusters and called upon the relevant UN agencies and donors to coordinate with the Disaster Management Authority and relevant government departments for carrying out humanitarian assistance.
He said that all relevant state institutions, including the army and navy, had been geared up to play their role in the relief work.
The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and the Bait-ul-Maal had also been mobilised to provide assistance, he added.
Zardari thanked the UN secretary general for launching an urgent international appeal for humanitarian assistance despite the donors’ fatigue.
He said that Badin and Thatta needed to be given special attention in view of a huge body of stagnant water accumulated in Badin that had jeopardised life, livestock and agriculture on a massive scale.
Spokesman to the President Farhatullah Babar said that the UN agencies and donors, whose representatives attended the meeting, included UNICEF, WHO, FAO, UNHCR, USAID, WFP and UN Habitat among others.
Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza, provincial ministers, President’s Secretary General Salman Farooqui and senior federal and provincial government officials also attended the meeting.
