![In this picture taken on September 28, an internally displaced flood-affected family sits outside its tent at a makeshift tent camp in Jamshoro district of Sindh province. Sindh has been worst hit by the catastrophic flooding that put a third of Pakistan underwater, displaced eight million, destroyed or damaged two million homes, crippled 1,500 hospitals and clinics and caused an estimated $28 billion in damage. [Rizwan Tabassum/AFP]](/cnmi_pf/images/2022/10/28/38271-000_32kg8v7-739_416.webp)
The United States said Thursday (October 27) it would provide another $30 million in flood aid to Pakistan, hoping to reach nearly two million additional people after the historic disaster.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said the new aid would include emergency food and nutrition, screening for malnutrition, shelter assistance and kits to help families prepare for winter.
USAID chief Samantha Power, who visited Pakistan last month, said she had seen a "sunken world" from the floods that killed more than 1,700 people and 1.2 million livestock and at their height submerged one-third of the country.
"For those who survived, unimaginable challenges still lie ahead. Although the water is receding, the damage remains vast," she said in a statement.
"The United States continues to stand with the people of Pakistan during this heartbreaking time."
The assistance brings to $97 million the flood aid to Pakistan by the United States, the largest donor.
France next month plans a donors' conference to discuss broader aid to Pakistan, one of the most susceptible countries to climate change despite its minimal role in global carbon emissions.
'All weather friend'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in late September called on Pakistan to seek debt relief from its close partner China as floods devastate the South Asian country.
"We send a simple message. We are here for Pakistan, just as we were during past natural disasters, looking ahead to rebuild," Blinken said after talks in Washington with Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
"I also urged our colleagues to engage China on some of the important issues of debt relief and restructuring so that Pakistan can more quickly recover from the floods," Blinken said.
China is a key economic and political partner of Pakistan, pushing ahead with a $54 billion "economic corridor" that will build infrastructure and give Beijing an outlet to the Indian Ocean, although Chinese interests have also faced attacks from separatists.
Washington has repeatedly charged that China will reap the benefits while Pakistan will face unsustainable debt.
The massive floods have revealed the limitations of China's "all-weather" friendship with the nation.
