Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Ms.Valerie Amos,

Excellencies,

The Chinese delegation wishes to thank Secretary-General, Ambassador Haroon, and you for the briefings on the latest developments of Pakistan floods and international relief efforts．

Affected by the unprecedented floods that hit Pakistan sixty days ago, hundreds of millions of people, including several million children, are still waiting for emergency humanitarian assistance. With more towns and villages inundated just recently, the humanitarian crisis caused by the floods is far from over．

The Chinese delegation believes that in the face of this unprecedented disaster the international community must pull together and respond by launching the strongest ever humanitarian assistance efforts．The Chinese delegation welcomes the revision of the Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan to 2 billion US dollars based on the latest assessment of the local needs．We call on the international community to continue to provide timely and sufficient humanitarian assistance to the affected areas, especially greater support for the seriously under-funded clusters such as the WASH cluster．The Chinese delegation is also of the view that the current disaster relief efforts must be carried out with an integrated plan for early recovery and post-disaster reconstruction in mind, so as to ensure the smooth transition from disaster relief to development．

In view of the profound friendship between China and Pakistan, the Chinese Government immediately after the disaster provided 120 million yuan worth of humanitarian assistance to Pakistan and sent a 55-member rescue and relief team to country, which was the first international rescue and relief team to arrive at the affected areas．

On September 6, the Chinese Government announced its decision to provide additional assistance worth 200 million yuan to the Pakistani government and people．Discussion with the Pakistani government on the specifics of the assistance is now under way．Last Tuesday, in light of the actual needs of the affected areas, the Chinese Government sent another 63-member rescue and relief team to Pakistan．Up to date, the Chinese Government has provided a total of 320 million yuan (about 48 million US dollars) of humanitarian assistance to Pakistan．

In closing, the Chinese delegation takes this opportunity to once again congratulate Ms. Amos on assuming the post of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator．I hope under her leadership, the UN humanitarian system will make greater and timely contributions to Pakistan's disaster relief and early recovery．

Thank you．