ISLAMABAD - Ambassador of France to Pakistan Nicolas Galey on Tuesday said that his country had so far allocated €2 million for humanitarian relief operations for flood-hit communities in Pakistan. Speaking at a news conference here, the envoy said France was committed to support Pakistan amid the flood situation. “These relief activities have provided critical assistance to vulnerable households, and contributed to reducing loss of lives and improving living conditions in flood-affected communities,” Ambassador Galey said. He elaborated that out of €2 million, the French government had allocated €1 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) for an integrated “Nutrition – Safety Net Programme” for pregnant and lactating women in the districts of Qambar Shahdadkot and Khairpur in Sindh. The ambassador said that the programme would provide “emergency food assistance, life-saving nutrition preventive packages, and cash grants to 5.400 direct beneficiaries and 32.400 household members.” Moreover, he said, €1 million were allocated to three international non-governmental organisations for flood relief operations. In consultation with the Pakistani authorities, he added, France quickly dispatched emergency equipment and military experts from the French civil security service to the field to assist in relief operations and respond to urgent humanitarian needs. To a question, on the number of flights carrying aid for Pakistan, Ambassador Nicolas Galey said that on September 3, a special chartered flight arrived in Karachi, carrying emergency equipment (including 83 high-capacity water pumps and more than 200 tents, and a military medical team consisting of four doctors and four nurses, as well as a military team of four technicians to operate the water pumps. The French medical team remained on the ground for two weeks in Badin district in Sindh to provide hundreds of medical consultations daily. Moreover, from October 7 to November 5, 40 French civil security experts were deployed in Dadu district in Sindh to operate “water purification equipment brought directly from France.” The military team provided 600,000 litres of drinking water to the local communities, the ambassador highlighted.