IRELAND HAS pledged a further €1.19m to Pakistan as the floods hitting the country cause yet more devastation, the Minister for Overseas Development Peter Power has announced.

The extra money will bring the total fund to €2m.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN General Assembly, which coincided with World Humanitarian Day, Power said that the Pakistan disaster was of such a magnitude that it needs a global response – and the UN must be at its centre.

“Humanitarian disasters do not respect annual calendars and we are now faced with a further enormous challenge in the flooding situation in Pakistan. I would appeal to all our partner governments represented here today to keep up the momentum on the humanitarian response to this disaster.”

Speaking to the Irish Times, Power said that the sheer scale and magnitude of the Pakistan disaster is hard to convey, and added:

There are seven million people with no homes, no water, no food and increasingly, and more worryingly, no medicines. That’s at a very minimum the number in immediate need of emergency assistance. There are 15 million people who are in need of other assistance.

Ireland has so far given €810,000 to the people of Pakistan through Concern and Trócaire. A further €150,000 is being provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.