UN continues support for flood-hit Pakistan

United Nations, Sep 3 (IANS) The UN has continued to support Pakistan's response to devastating floods by providing food, clean water and other emergency relief supplies, a spokesperson said.

UN team, along with humanitarian partners, have provided food aid to 300,000 people and clean water to 55,000 people, Eri Kaneko, associate spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told a press briefing here on Friday.

"Our colleagues have also deployed 14 mobile clinics to provide health care services in impacted areas," Kaneko said.

In addition, UN team and humanitarian partners have delivered more than 71,000 emergency relief items including tents, plastic tarpaulins, cooking stoves, blankets, solar lamps and sleeping mats to refugee and host communities in the country.

Access continues to be a major obstacle to the delivery of aid and the ability of people to flee their homes to safer locations, Kaneko said, adding that in total, over 5,000 km of roads and 243 bridges have been damaged or destroyed.

According to the spokesperson, over 1.1 million houses have been damaged or destroyed in Pakistan and more than 470,000 people are living in camps.

The record monsoon rain have submerged a third of Pakistan, claiming more than a thousand lives since June and unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.