ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that United Nations Secretary General’s visit to Pakistan was of great importance, adding that the country needed support and assistance from the UN and the international community for the rehabilitation of flood affectees.

“As many as 33 million of people have been affected due to floods,” the foreign minister said in a joint press conference with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Islamabad on Friday.

The foreign minister said that over 1,300 people including women and children died, adding that the floods were posing serious health challenges.

Out of Pakistan’s 154 districts, 116 have been affected by the floods, caused by heavy monsoon rains that started in mid-July with a third of the country inundated by the floods, local relief workers and public health experts have said that they are fearing a rise in several waterborne and mosquito-borne diseases and skin infections.

Bilawal said that the government was making all-out efforts to provide relief to the flood-affected people.

“I have arrived in Pakistan to express my deep solidarity with flood-affected people,” the UN chief said while addressing the joint press conference.

Pakistan was one of the countries most affected by climate change despite its minimal contribution to the phenomenon, he said and added that climate change was one of the biggest challenges the world was facing.

Guterres said that the developed countries would have to support the other countries, adding that his visit was aimed at appealing to the global community for massive support as Pakistan responded to the climate catastrophe.

He said the developed countries must produce a credible roadmap to back their commitment to double their financial support. He said that loss and damage from the climate crisis were not future events as it was “happening now all around us.”

The UNSG said cash assistance and food items have been distributed amongst the flood victims of Sindh and Balochistan with the support of funds released from UN Central Emergency Response Fund. He said what we have done is a drop in the ocean of the needs of the Pakistani people.

He said millions of flood-hit were living in camps and direly need help from the global community. “It is not a matter of solidarity or generosity it is a matter of justice,” he added.

Earlier, UNSG met Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here and discussed the flood situation across the country.

During the meeting, they discussed the magnitude of the destruction caused by the flash floods as well as the ongoing rescue, relief and rehabilitation efforts.

On his arrival at the Foreign Office, the foreign minister received the UN chief who is on two-day solidarity visit to Pakistan as the country suffered through massive flash floods.

Prior to meeting the foreign minister, the UN chief also met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and visited the National Flood Response Coordination Center where he was given details about the flood-caused losses to lives and infrastructure.

Pakistan needs massive financial support, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, adding that the country has suffered over $30 billion in flood damages.

“Nature is striking back. Today it is Pakistan tomorrow it can be someone else,” he said while addressing a press conference alongside Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the National Flood Response Coordination Centre in Islamabad.

The UNSG added that he has seen families who have lost their loved ones and exhorted the world to support Pakistan in difficult times.

“We are adding into the disaster. We waged war on nature, and nature is now striking back. We need to stop increased emissions and mobilize much more resources to countries like Pakistan, to resist these devastating disasters caused by climate change,” he said.

“Pakistan needs massive International support. It is not just a message of solidarity but an International obligation and responsibility. Pakistan is at the frontline at the impact of climate change.”

PM Shehbaz thanked the UN secretary general and assured him that every relief amount would be “spent in a transparent way”.

“I am deeply touched by the way UNSG Antonio Guterres has spoken today. His empathy has touched the heart of every Pakistani. It is as if the secretary general has spoken with the heart of a Pakistani. I am extremely grateful,” PM Shehbaz said.

UNSG Guterres arrives in Pakistan

UNSG Guterres arrived in Pakistan in the wee hours of Friday to express solidarity with the people after the devastating floods here.

“I appeal for massive support from the international community as Pakistan responds to this climate catastrophe,” he said in a tweet. The UN secretary general is here on a two-day solidarity visit. He was received at the Islamabad International Airport by State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar.

Flash floods driven by heavy rains have killed 1,391 people since mid-June and damaged 1,739,166 houses, the National Disaster Management Authority data showed. The international community has sent relief to the flood-stricken country in its appeal to bring the country out of the floods.

The damage from the floods in Pakistan would be “far greater” than $10 billion, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal told Bloomberg earlier this week. He was of the view that the scale and size of flood tragedy were bigger than its resources.

Guterres would have meetings with the Pakistani leadership and senior officials to exchange views on the national and global response to this catastrophe caused by climate change, said the foreign office statement.

“The secretary general will travel to areas most impacted by the climate catastrophe. He will interact with displaced families and first responders in the field, and oversee UN’s humanitarian response work in support of the Government’s rescue and relief efforts for millions of affected people,” it said.

A helpline ‘1125’ has been set up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ‘1135’ in Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir for relief efforts.

The FO was of the view that the secretary general’s visit would further raise global awareness about the massive scale of the calamity. “It will contribute towards enhancing commensurate and coordinated international response to the humanitarian and other needs of the 33 million affected Pakistanis.”

Guterres supported the $160 million to the UN ‘Flash Appeal’ to fund Pakistan’s Flood Response Plan and contributed a video message at its launch event held simultaneously in Islamabad and Geneva on August 30.

At least 18,000 schools have been destroyed and thousands of schools were fully shuttered, Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF’s representative in Pakistan, said during the appeal.

“The UNSG has been consistently stressing the linkage of such disasters with the impacts of climate change and warning the international community about the existential threat to our planet in case climate change was not addressed in a timely and effective manner.”

Chris Kaye, WFP’s country director for Pakistan, had described the necessity to put agricultural production back on track as a “global challenge”. At least 754,708 have been damaged in the floods.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, in a discussion on the economy in Karachi, warned of a “bleak spring” next month if Sindh did not start farming for the wheat crop by mid-October. “Flour is going to get expensive.”

Crops of rice, wheat and date trees have been damaged in the southern province where at least 23 districts were declared calamity-hit.

More to follow