19 September 2010 - 19:30

The United Nations has warned that more than 100,000 children in Pakistan's flood-stricken areas are in danger of dying due to food shortages

Ahlul Bayt News Agency - ABNA - The United Nations has warned that more than 100,000 children in Pakistan's flood-stricken areas are in danger of dying due to food shortages.

"About 105,000 kids younger than 5 are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition over the next six months," said the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

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. The floods have killed over 1,700 people.

"There's just not the capacity to treat this level of severe acute malnutrition," AP quoted Boyd, a UNICEF emergency nutritionist working in southern Pakistan as saying.

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

Addressing an international ministerial meeting on Pakistan's floods, he called the devastation "the worst natural disaster the United Nations has responded to in its 65-year history."

Ban on Friday also 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."

The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) has so far sent 18 consignments of humanitarian aid to Pakistani victims of heavy floods and landslides.

IRCS President Abolhassan Faqih detailed the country's relief aid to the flood-hit Pakistan in a news conference on Monday.

He said the IRCS has so far sent 18 shipments to Pakistan. The supplies mainly include tents, blankets, food and medicine, he further explained.

The official said Iran set up three camps in the flooded areas in the early hours of the disaster, adding the number of camps Iran has so far set up in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh provinces totals 16.

In addition to relief camps, the IRCS has established seven medical centers and sent in three teams of doctors to treat patients, Faqih went on to say.

According to the Iranian official, around 10,000 patients have been treated in IRCS medical centers over the past week.

Iran was among the first countries to dispatch relief supplies to Pakistan which is grappling with hunger, lack of hygiene and the threat of an epidemic.

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.

End item/ 159