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UN urges more aid to flood-hit Pakistan

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for an urgent global response to the flood disaster which has affected millions in Pakistan.

The UN chief, who was addressing an international ministerial meeting on Pakistan’s floods on Sunday, called the devastation “the worst natural disaster the United Nations has responded to in its 65-year history.”

On Friday, Ban appealed for a record $2 billion in emergency aid for the millions of victims of Pakistan’s devastating floods, calling the crisis “a global test of solidarity.”

According to the UN, Pakistan needs the money to buy food, set up emergency camps, rebuild its agricultural sector and reconstruct villages, which have seen their drinking water and sanitation systems wiped out.

More than 20 million people have been affected by the floods since July, with up to 12 million needing urgent humanitarian aid.

The flood waters, which hit northern Pakistan, are still moving to the southern provinces, causing alarming new emergencies.

There are fears of a looming health crisis with 709,000 cases of dysentery, almost a million cases of skin disease, more than 800,000 cases of acute respiratory infections and hundreds of thousands of cases of malaria and dengue fever that are being spread by mosquitoes.

Pakistani officials told the meeting that the country had only 20 percent of the food and water needed for the flood victims.

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