Finnish Red Cross to send disaster preparedness unit to Pakistan
The Finnish Red Cross will send aid workers to support the international aid mission of the Red Cross in Pakistan. The unit consisting of logistics professionals will coordinate relief efforts in the country that is suffering from massive floods.
The logistics-focused disaster preparedness unit of the Finnish Red Cross will be leaving for Karachi, Pakistan. The four-person unit will be tasked with coordinating the storage, transport and distribution of the aid supplies arriving in the country, intended for those who need them the most.
“The conditions are extremely challenging since the masses of water and landslides have destroyed roads and bridges. The need for humanitarian aid is immense,” says Marko Korhonen, Head of International Disaster Management at the Finnish Red Cross.
Tens of millions of people have been forced to leave their homes, and vast farmlands have been flooded.
“The victims of the floods are people who are already the most vulnerable and poor regions that have not yet recovered from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the current disaster, 43 per cent of Pakistan’s residents were suffering from a food shortage. Now, the number of people facing hunger is expected to rise even higher,” Korhonen says.
The delivery of the disaster preparedness unit sent to Pakistan was funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.