ISLAMABAD — A United Nations official warned Wednesday that at least a half billion dollars was needed to help keep alive people affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan. The BBC reported that the U.N. was planning to issue a fresh appeal for help from the international community. U.N. emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said he hoped to raise about $500 million, the U.K. station reported. "And that's very much an initial figure probably for the first three months, and that's based on the best assessments we can do at the moment," he told the BBC. "Our immediate focus when we launch the appeal will be on the immediate humanitarian relief needs to actually keep people alive, to give them the basic minimum to stay alive, to survive," Holmes added. The floods have killed more than 1,600 people, forced 2 million from their homes and disrupted the lives of about 14 million people — 8 percent of the country's population. Roiling floods triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain have scoured the Indus river basin, leaving a trail of destruction from mountains in the north to the plains of Sindh province in the south.
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ISLAMABAD — A United Nations official warned Wednesday that at least a half billion dollars was needed to help keep alive people affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan.
The BBC reported that the U.N. was planning to issue a fresh appeal for help from the international community.
U.N. emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said he hoped to raise about $500 million, the U.K. station reported.
"And that's very much an initial figure probably for the first three months, and that's based on the best assessments we can do at the moment," he told the BBC.
"Our immediate focus when we launch the appeal will be on the immediate humanitarian relief needs to actually keep people alive, to give them the basic minimum to stay alive, to survive," Holmes added.
The floods have killed more than 1,600 people, forced 2 million from their homes and disrupted the lives of about 14 million people — 8 percent of the country's population.
Roiling floods triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain have scoured the Indus river basin, leaving a trail of destruction from mountains in the north to the plains of Sindh province in the south.
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