Jallozai, Pakistan - Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie called on Tuesday for constant and long-term assistance for Pakistan to help it cope with its worst ever floods that have wreaked havoc on the impoverished country.
The disaster has killed more than 1 750 people, affected more than 18-million and inflicted nearly $43-billion worth of damage to infrastructure and agriculture, the mainstay of the economy, since it began more than a month ago.
“It's extraordinarily complex situation,” Jolie told reporters after visiting a camp in north-western Pakistan housing thousands of refugees. “These are very, very long, extended situations that need our constant support for a very, very long time.”
Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency, said she would encourage governments as well as individuals to help Pakistan ease the suffering.
Clad in a black shawl, the Hollywood star talked to displaced women and children as she walked through tents erected on the ruins of a camp set up about three decades ago for Afghan refugees.
Jolie said she was “very moved” by the devastation.
The United Nations has received about $310-million towards its initial appeal of $460-million, but says it needs hundreds of millions of more dollars in new donations to provide food, medicine and shelter to affected people.
The United Nations is expected to launch a revised appeal on September 17 in New York.
Aid agencies have warned that millions of people are at risk if emergency food and shelters are not provided. - Reuters