The consortium includes Caritas International, Médecins du Monde, Handicap International, Oxfam-Solidariteit and Unicef Belgium. Each charity has been taking donations individually since the flooding started in July.

Donations will now be made to the well-known account number 000-0000012-12, which was set up at the time of the Asian tsunami in 2004, when €48 million was raised, and later revived for the earthquake in Haiti, for which €22.5 million was raised. Two prominent charities, Doctors without Borders and the Red Cross Belgium, are going it alone; their accounts are 000-0000060-60 (DwB) and 000-0006566-67 (Red Cross).

The Pakistan flooding has led to the loss of about 1,500 lives, and material damage is extensive. Some six million people need food aid because of the loss of farmland and livestock, while an estimated 700,000 families have lost their homes. Experts warn that the final death toll from disease could exceed the number already killed by the floods. The United Nations has estimated that some €362 million is needed to tackle the most urgent problems, of which €98m has already been pledged.

The European Union has made a grant of €140 million in emergency aid to Pakistan. Nicolas Tuts of the Belgian department of the interior's crisis unit is leading a five- strong team in an investigation of Pakistan's aid needs on behalf of the EU. Emergency physician Luc Beaucourt was sent on a scouting mission by Flemish minister- president Kris Peeters, with a view to sending out the Belgian first aid and support team B-Fast.