The international community has given less than one-third of the 38 million dollars for which the United Nations appealed to assist Pakistan's victims of severe floodings last month, the UN said Friday, according to dpa. Monsoon rains and cyclone Yemyin devastated the Baluchistan and Sindh provinces in late June and July, killing more than 300 people and leaving 200 others still missing. The floods made some 370,000 people homeless, and tens of thousands of others were displaced by the disaster. The UN humanitarian office and the Pakistani government appealed for donations to help the victims, fight the spread of diseases and provide clean water for those affected because water distribution systems and wells were destroyed. UN emergency relief coordinator John Holmes said the response to the appeal was unsatisfactory. "Lacks of funding is gravely hampering the humanitarian community's efforts to assist 2.2 million people suffering from the floods," Holmes said. The UN said schools were taken over to house the homeless and that more than 1 million children are vulnerable to infectious diseases, including malaria and dengue fever.
