Clegg sees Pakistan flood damage

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, right, waves to a family during his visit to a camp for flood-affected people in Sukkur. (AP)
12 April 2012

Nick Clegg has said flood-hit Pakistan will need aid for years to come after he saw the extent of the devastation for himself.

Speaking after being shown aid camps near the southern town of Sukkur, one of the worst-affected regions, the Deputy Prime Minister said: "I think the sheer scale of this, it is really quite difficult to comprehend.

"The terrible thing is that it has got a long tail. It has got a lot of aftershocks that are going to last for a long time."

He said the response from countries around the world has been too slow, although he praised donations from the British Government and public.

"We have to make a huge effort to provide important emergency aid but really stick with this for the long term," he said.

Mr Clegg said flood waters have not drained away in many areas, creating a "real danger of diseases taking hold".

He also discussed the situation with Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, who was also touring the disaster scene, as well as briefing him on his visit to Afghanistan and talks with President Hamid Karzai the day before.

More details of how some of the British Government's £33 million of aid will be allocated were released to coincide with Mr Clegg's visit.

About £9 million will be spent on 2,330 water pumps for safe drinking supplies; emergency shelter kits for around 30,500 families; repairing or installing 5,000 toilets; spades, picks and wheelbarrows to help 1,600 families clear debris from their homes; and 650 kits containing essentials for newborn babies.

The money will be given to charities Save The Children, Concern and Oxfam.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT