§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action his Department is taking to help alleviate the suffering caused by the recent floods in Pakistan; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydBritain was the first donor country to provide assistance and, having committed over £475,000, is second only to Japan in the size of its bilateral response to the current flooding. On 12 September we made an initial contribution of $200,000 before any needs assessment had been carried out. When actual needs became clearer, we arranged a charter flight to Lahore delivering tents, blankets, antibiotics and oral rehydra.tion salts—£227,320. Since then we have arranged to deliver further locally available relief supplies in Sindh province through Pakistan non-governmental organisations—£80,000—and made grants available to the following UK non-governmental organisations:
£ CAFOD 500 tents for Sindh Province 23,768 Adventist Development and Relief Agency Medicines for Sindh and Punjab 40,000 We continue to monitor the situation and we are actively considering what further assistance we can provide.