Islamabad: UN Secretary General António Guterres will visit Pakistan on September 9-10 to express solidarity with the country’s people braving a colossal climate induced natural disaster caused by unprecedented rains and floods.
During the visit, the Secretary General will 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, an official statement read.
Guterres 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.
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The Secretary-General’s visit will further raise global awareness about the massive scale of this calamity and the resulting loss of life and widespread devastation. It will contribute towards enhancing commensurate and coordinated international response to the humanitarian and other needs of the 33 million affected Pakistanis.
The Secretary General actively supported the USD 160 million UN Flash Appeal to fund Pakistan’s Flood Response Plan.
“The UN Secretary General 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,” the statement added.
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The Secretary General’s visit will also spotlight the importance of sustained international support for Pakistan through the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase, and for building resilience against future climate shocks.
As of now, around 1,325 people lost their lives in Pakistan due to heavy floods. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) had previously said that 12,703 people were also injured due to accidents related to floods, which were triggered by the monsoon rains.
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