Pakistani Ambassador Asks Indonesian to Help Flood Victims

Jakarta, MINA – Pakistani Ambassador to Indonesia Muhammad Hassan asked Indonesian to help pakistan flood victims.

He explained the current situation in refugee camps where the victims need assistance such as food, medicine and shelter immediately.

“I expect the Indonesian people and Pakistani friends to join hands with the Pakistani government in helping those in urgent need,” Ambassador said at a briefing session to leaders or representatives of civil society organizations and organizations for disaster management and humanitarian assistance in Indonesia, at the Pakistani Embassy building in Jakarta on Tuesday, September 6.

MINA reported there were delegates and leaders of NGOs, humanitarian and emergency organizations in Indonesia, namely the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee (MER-C), Human Initiative, OIC Youth Indonesia, and others at the meeting.

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In his opinion, the situation will get worse because of continuous heavy rain. To prevent it, the government is now prioritizing food security assistance, housing and non-food items, child nutrition programs, primary health services, water and sanitation, and shelter for refugees.

Besides that, his party also established the Flood Relief Coordination Unit to coordinate individual contributors and humanitarian organizations wanting to help the victims.

“If you want to help, you can transfer the money through any Pakistani Bank and if you want to help directly, our country will grant permission for you to go to the flood affected areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian humanitarian organization, Medical Emergency Rescue Commitee (MER-C) volunteers, Ita Muswita and Islamiyah Samaun shared their experiences in carrying out humanitarian missions for flood victims in Pakistan in 2010 for two weeks.

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On that mission, the total number of patients treated by the MER-C Team, both general treatment and surgery, was 2,110 patients.

“What needs to be prepared when carrying out humanitarian missions going directly to the field is to recognize the local character or culture in the disaster-affected country, especially to reach areas and refugee camps in remote areas,” said Ita.

According to the Pakistani embassy’s latest report, the flood has struck 80 districts, 12,588 people injured, more than 470.000 fleed, and 1,300 people died while 1,468,019 homes destroyed, 736,459 cattle killed, 3,6 million hectares of crops or gardens damaged, and more than 5,000 km streets and  243 bridges impaired.

This calamity has caused economic loss in the country to reach $12.5 billion. Meanwhile cases of diarrhea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infections, and skin diseases have also been reported. (T/ri/RE1)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)