Belgium sends water treatment installation and B-FAST team to Pakistan
Belgium is sending a water treatment installation and a B-FAST team of experts to Pakistan to provide assistance following this summer's severe floods. The Federal Public Service (FPS) Foreign Affairs announced this on Monday morning.
In mid-October, a B-FAST reconnaissance team already went to Pakistan to assess where the water treatment installation could be deployed. The team had its eye on two locations in Sindh province, Bhiria and Kot Diji, where B-FAST can provide assistance to solve the lack of potable water.
"With the installation, up to 120.000 litres of water per day can be purified at both locations combined. At the same time, an existing water plant in Kot Diji will be repaired and decontaminated, providing the local population with a long-term solution to the current wave of infections and diseases."
The plan is to involve a local team of experts in the entire process so that local technicians can be trained to take over the water treatment plant when the Belgian team returns home. The installation itself will be donated to Pakistan, along with all the products needed to purify water for at least 12 months.
The team of experts left for Pakistan on Monday. The operation is supported by the European Union.
The floods in Pakistan left more than 1.600 people dead, and the material damage is enormous. To this day, the needs of the population remain enormous. The floods have made access to clean potable water difficult and Pakistan launched a new appeal for water purification assistance in the affected areas on 20 September.
(BRV)
© PHOTO Rizwan TABASSUM / AFP - Children of internally displaced flood victims drink water from a puddle outside a makeshift camp in Jamshoro district of Sindh province, September 2022.