Sri Lanka is to provide flood relief goods such as tea, biscuits, sleeping bags, bed sheets, exercise books and medicines to those affected by the floods in Sindh province of Pakistan.
According to the Sri Lankan government's official news portal, Mahinda Rajapaksa personally instructed G.L. Peiris, the Minister of External Affairs, to arrange for the donation.
Last week, officials from Pakistan's army, toured Sri Lanka and pledged to provide military and demining training.
See Sri Lanka seeks Indian and Pakistani army advice on demining (Oct 2011)
See While the North starves (Oct 2011)
A recent World Food Programme survey revealed that around half the 1.1 million people living in the Northern Province were in debt, owing on average six months' income, much of it incurred in buying food.
The latest WFP assessment of the Northern Province also found that half the households there live on less than $1 a day.
The report stated,
“Over 60 percent of households in the Northern Province are food-insecure, and lack the income generation and food-production capacity to secure basic needs."