Pakistan sets up national disaster agency to tackle devastation caused by unprecedented floods

Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that the country would need more than $10 billion to rebuild the infrastructure devastated by the raging floods

Pakistan government has set up a nodal disaster agency to provide an institutional response to the devastating floods caused by record monsoon rains that has displaced more than 33 million or one-seventh of the country's population.

The country-wide death toll has touched 1,136 as of August 29, 2022, with over 1,634 injured and 33 million displaced, according to the latest data issued by the National Disaster Management Authority, the chief national body tasked to deal with calamities.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on August 30, 2022 that the country would need more than $10 billion to rebuild the infrastructure devastated by the raging floods, which roughly translates to 3 per cent of the country's GDP.

The Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government on Monday set up the National Flood Response and Coordination Centre, which will comprise federal ministers, representatives of armed forces, chief ministers and experts to provide proper institutional response to the calamity.

“The Centre will serve as a bridge between disaster management authorities, donors and government institutions. It will collect and analyse latest information and pass it on to the relevant government agencies. It will also oversee rescue and relief work including restoration of infrastructure,” the PM Office tweeted after the meeting.

The move comes as the "2022 Pakistan Floods Response Plan (FRP)" is being jointly launched by the Pakistan government and the United Nations on Tuesday, simultaneously in Islamabad and Geneva.

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will deliver the keynote address at the launch event, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by a video message from the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to the Foreign Office.