Irish flood aid supplies head for Pakistan

The first flight carrying Irish-funded aid supplies will leave from Italy this weekend to help victims devastated by floods in Pakistan.

Hundreds of people were killed earlier this month when flooding and severe rains swept through the Asian country, destroying homes and villages.

The Brindisi depot in south-east Italy is one of four aid facilities around the world for the UN’s World Food Programme.

The depot contains emergency supplies provided by Irish Aid and is stocked with blankets, water tanks, tents and other material which can be airlifted to any location in an emergency.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said: “It is great that emergency materials provided by the Irish taxpayer is located at the World Food Programme depot in Brindisi.

“In the past such material had to be sourced after a crisis which often took several weeks – a period of time which usually cost lives.

“The Irish people have always been extremely generous during a humanitarian crisis and now we have gone one step further by providing emergency supplies at the Brindisi depot which will be available for dispersal to disaster zones at very short notice.

“We are one of the first countries in the world to do so.

The Irish Government decided to provide emergency aid at a storage point following the tsunami in south east Asia.

Another emergency aid depot is to be opened in the Curragh in Co Kildare, while one being built in Ghana is funded by Irish Aid.

“The provision of emergency materials runs in tandem with the establishment of the Rapid Response Corp, a group of volunteers from various walks of life who can be flown to a humanitarian crisis zone at 24 hours notice,” Mr Ahern said.

“The last group of volunteers will complete their training in early September.

“This wonderful commitment by men and women from various walks of life underscores the expanding humanitarian role of Ireland on the world stage,” he said.

The Irish stocks in Brindisi are valued at €670,000 and there is enough provisions, ranging from soap to blankets, water storage tanks and kitchen sets, for 20,000 people.

The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for US$38m to help the hundreds of thousands of people whose homes, crops and livestock were destroyed by severe floods in southern Pakistan.

Many of the 2.5 million people affected by the flooding, which followed four days of torrential rains from a cyclone, are living in makeshift settlements, camps and public buildings.