Japan to provide grant of $38.9mn for Pakistan flood victims

ISLAMABAD: Japan has announced its plan to provide a “grant assistance” of $38.9 million to Pakistan as part of the country’s supplementary budget to deliver life-saving aid to the flood victims, its embassy in Islamabad said on Wednesday.

According to the Japanese Embassy statement, the projects will commence in January 2023 and Tokyo “will support the affected population in various social and economic dimensions in partnership with WHO, UNFPA, FAO, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, UNWOMEN, UNHCR, and IPPF in Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Punjab provinces, as well as the Islamabad Capital Territory.”

The statement added that the proposed areas for support included “emergency medical assistance, food distribution, agriculture and livestock restoration, livelihood recreation, and gender-based violence risk mitigation and response.”

It pointed out that “the unprecedented levels of flooding have triggered a multi-dimensional humanitarian crisis, leaving the affected population with increased health risks and food insecurity, insecure livelihoods, and heightened vulnerabilities to gender-based violence.”

The communiqué said the Japanese government “will also provide support through JICA, equivalent to $4.7m, for recovery from the floods in health, agriculture, education, gender, and resilient disaster management.”

The statement also highlighted how Japan provided $7m as an emergency grant to address the immediate impact of the floods earlier in September.

“The Government of Japan, with a long-standing partnership with Pakistan, stands ready to support the people of Pakistan to overcome the ongoing humanitarian crisis,” it said.