NEW YORK // An Emirati minister pledged a further US$5 million (Dh18.4m) to help Pakistani flood victims and linked the calamity to global warming. The UAE will stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the people of Pakistan, and has already started delivering medical tents, blankets and food, Reem al Hashemi, Minister of State and chairwoman of Dubai Cares, said on Thursday at a high-level UN meeting. "We understand the enormous magnitude of the devastation caused in the country," Ms al Hashemi told the UN General Assembly. "Henceforth we need international assistance that meets the scale of the needs of rebuilding this infrastructure to ensure that the situation is remediated." The UAE has helped Pakistan with development assistance since the 1970s and responded to the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and last year's violence in Swat. "The floods in Pakistan once again sound the alarm bell regarding climate change," said Ms al Hashemi. "We need to take this question seriously. The different components of climate change need to be borne in mind, such as changes in temperatures. We do not want such a thing to happen again." @Email:jreinl@thenational.ae
