With the flooding crisis in Pakistan continuing NATO has responded to a call for assistance by flying aid to the capital Islamabad today.

The disaster has so far left over millions of people homeless and desperately in need of food and shelter. NATO's response by deciding to provide strategic air lift to goods donated by nations and humanitarian relief organizations is part of an international effort to assist in a major humanitarian disaster.

Ambassador Maurits Jochems, also the NATO deputy assistant secretary general for operations, said: "Today we have a flight by NATO aircraft with goods donated by Slovakia- tents , water pumps and generators, electrical generators."

He said the NATO plane flew from the base in Geilenkirchen in Germany, home of NATO's airborne early warning force, and is currently on route to Islamabad to offload the aid.

US Air Force Sergeant James O'Connor said: "That is one of the benefits for me being at NATO- be able to help people out.We have all these wonderful resources, so we can get in and bring supplies for these people in need."

He said with much of Pakistan's infrastructure now broken and crops destroyed such aid is desperately needed.

Ambassador Maurits Jochems said: "NATO's first task is not a humanitarian relief organization of course. They are other international organizations taking the lead there, mostly from the United Nations family- the United Nations' Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with whom we have a very good working relationship."

"So it is only on a request of stricken nation or on the request of the UN, as we did by the way in 2005 ,when Pakistan was stricken by an earthquake, we only response on a request," he said.

Pakistan requested NATO with a specific list of goods on the7th of August, two weeks ago and immediately our Disaster Responds Coordination Centre went to action and coordinated in a clearing.

He said: "House function the donations by individual NATO nations and NATO partner nations, but the aid is going on already much longer than today."

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