As Pakistanis flee flood zone, officials decry lack of international aid (Pic Heavy)

Source: Washington Post

Washington Post Foreign Service -
Tuesday, August 10, 2010; 1:14 PM -

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- Hundreds of thousands of people fled an ever-expanding flood zone Tuesday as Pakistan's leaders called for a greater international response to what they say is the worst natural disaster in the country's history.

Although the flooding was concentrated in northwestern Pakistan when it began two weeks ago, it has spread southward in recent days to inundate areas of Sindh and southern portions of Punjab. Those regions are heavily agricultural, and the destruction of millions of acres of crops could lead to a food shortage, development officials say. The power shortages that plague the country could also worsen after a major natural gas field was submerged in floodwaters Tuesday. As the impact from the flooding spreads to nearly every corner of Pakistan, there is concern here that the disaster could ultimately lead to civil unrest.

Already, 14 million people have been affected by the flooding, and the Pakistani government has conceded that it does not have the resources to tackle the crisis. But officials say they have been disappointed by the relatively small amounts of international assistance that have been offered.

"If you look at the scale of the damage and compare that to the pledges we have received, so far there's a big asymmetry," said Sakib Sherani, the government's principal economic adviser. "Several billion dollars will be required just to feed and house the population temporarily. So clearly, the international community needs to step up."

=snip=

The international aid organization Oxfam called Tuesday for a "gear shift" in the global response to the flooding, saying the reaction has lagged compared with similar crises.

"The world must not leave these people stranded," said Neva Khan, Oxfam's Pakistan country director. "This is a mega-disaster and it needs a mega-response."

The United Nations says that less than $45 million in international aid has been committed, with another $91 million pledged. Within the first 10 days after the 2005 earthquake in the Pakistani region of Kashmir, nearly $300 million had either been pledged or committed. Ten days after the Haitian earthquake this year, that number surpassed $1.6 billion.

U.N. officials say that the floods have affected more people than the combined total from the Kashmir earthquake, the Haitian earthquake and the 2004 Asian tsunami. But unlike those crises, in which the scale of damage was almost immediately apparent, this one has unfolded gradually, and Pakistanis say they worry the world has not yet taken notice.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/10/AR2010081003183.html

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(Apologies for going over the limit but in this instance it's justified as the title can be construed as if they are "begging" so the full context of what they are saying needs to be added)


Flooded area of Kot Addu


Flood-hit areas on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan


Widespread flood damage over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa


Water supplies being thrown to residents from an army helicopter on the outskirts of Sukkur


Flood-hit areas on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan


Families marooned in the Rajanpur district


A bridge brought down by floodwaters in Ghazi Gaht


Cattle on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan


A man with his cattle in Ghouspur




(http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8901447">Hat tip to Sabrina for the 2 of these)



More pictures http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2010/aug/09/pakistan-natural-disasters#/?picture=365580579&index=7"> here

Incredible Footage Of The Devastating Floods In Pakistan (VIDEOS)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x493368

It won't be enough because it can't be enough......not for disasters this size. It's only the beginning. This is only the beginning.

Donations far lower than past crises, warns Oxfam, with India offering no relief at all to historical enemy

Simon Tisdall and Maseeh Rahman in New Delhi
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday August 10 2010 20.50 BST



The international response to Pakistan's flood emergency has been sluggish and ungenerous compared with relief efforts after previous disasters, a leading aid agency said today as the UN warned that its emergency workers were in danger of being overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis.

Oxfam said the UN's financial tracking system showed that as of August 9, governments had committed less than $45m, with an additional $91m pledged – considerably less money than was collected for previous disaster relief efforts over a similar period. India, Pakistan's much larger and wealthier neighbour, has not offered any aid or assistance at all.

"Within the first 10 days of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which left 3.5 million people homeless, the international community had committed $247m and pledged £45m... In the first 10 days of Cyclone Nargis, which affected 2.4 million people when it struck Myanmar , almost $110m was committed and $109m pledged," Oxfam said. Likewise, $742m was committed to Haiti and $920m pledged after the earthquake there in January.

About 14 million people have now been affected by the flooding, and about 1,600 people killed. Both figures are expected to rise in the coming days. Pakistan's federal flood commission estimated that 300,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged so far and 2.6m acres (105,000 sq km) of croplands submerged.

"Six million are children and 3 million women of child-bearing age. This is a higher figure than in the 2005 south Asia tsunami," the UN's humanitarian affairs co-ordination office said.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/10/pakistan-flood-international-aid#

I hope aid begins to flow in soon.

"India offering no relief"

:wtf: People are DYING.

Totally expected.

maybe people should withhold criticism before checking the facts.
governments trying to score political points while people are Dying is not exactly a nice thing to see

Call me super slow, but there;s no mention of Saudi Arabia committing any funding. Kuwait, yes. In fact Kuwait per capita are donating the most but it's a surprise not to see Saudi Arabia on there.

Thanks for keeping us abreast on the situation there.

K&R

Thanks for the very clear heads up regarding the terrible situation there.

Those photos are shocking in terms of showing how bad the situation is and how hopeless it is for the Pakistani government alone to handle this disaster.

If we weren't involved in wars all over the place, we could be sending our military to help in these disasters and how much more goodwill around the world that generate towards us?

I remember the soldiers who were sent to Indonesia after the Tsunami saying how much better they felt to be able to use their equipment and training to help people.

It is a shame that they are not getting the help they need. But aside from the wars we are involved in, there are the other disasters, the Russian Wildfires eg, and the disaster in China also.

It seems like we are swamped and cannot handle all of it anymore.

I can imagine the huge problems that must be starting already of providing food and medical aid to so many people. :cry:

Thanks again for keeping us up to date with this tragic story ....

This is the worst humanitarian disaster I think I've ever witnessed and the repercussions are going to be worse than we can imagine if the required assistance isn't given.

With regards to our military helping out, have you seen this yet?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4498070

I truly believe we are now witnessing the beginnings of the monumental "Climate Refugee" crisis Al Gore warned about in his "Inconvenient Truth" presentation.

on the MSM, but not a lot. As for here, I think the board is pre-occupied with the Gibbs story.

But this OP deserves far more exposure as this is really a developing story that will probably have far-reaching ramifications.

I had not thought of it, but you are right, this does look the 'Climate Refugee' crisis in Gore's documentary. It does seem to be getting worse all over the world.

I know the Pentagon has plans for when, not if, it happens. In a 2004 report Global Warning was at the top of the list of National Threats to this country, so they KNOW it is real, yet have allowed the deniers to get away with their claims that it is not.

The photos in this OP really are incredible, the damage will take decades to overcome in that country.

Thanks again for staying with it I haven't had a chance to do so myself, so I really appreciate your efforts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100811/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_floods;_ylt=AnANROvvVoGP6E39G3YHxras0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFiMzdscW8zBHBvcwM1MwRzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX3dvcmxkBHNsawN1c2FpZHdpbm5pbmc-

Besides helping those trapped by the high water, the U.S. assistance already is having another effect: The Pakistani Taliban denounced it and urged a boycott of Western aid.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, which has attacked international aid workers in the past and has long opposed foreign assistance, said it would fund relief efforts.

The foreign aid "is deceiving the nation. It will not reach the affected people, but will be pocketed by corrupt rulers," Azam Tariq told The Associated Press by telephone, adding the disaster was God's punishment to Pakistanis for accepting secular leaders.



I guess that guy is Pakistan's Pat Robertson

:eyes:

...there is no situation so bad that religous morons cant make it worse.

you are correct.

Hope they are saved somehow.

Pakistan issues fresh flood warning
By Hasan Mansoor (AFP) – 6 hours ago

SUKKUR, Pakistan — Pakistan issued fresh flood warnings on Wednesday, putting parts of Punjab and Sindh on alert and calling on foreign donors to step up to contain the country's worst humanitarian disaster.

The United Nations was to launch an international appeal in New York, calling for hundreds of millions of dollars to provide urgent assistance to six million people it says now depend on aid for survival.

Pakistan's government has admitted being unable to cope with the scale of the crisis and an outpouring of rage from survivors and the political opposition is compounding pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari.

Hardline Islamic charities have plugged some of the vacuum, leading to warnings within the United States about rising extremism in a country on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and key to the conflict in Afghanistan.

more:http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h64TY9nlB8_eK43xEEbfA5uPTkrA

the leaders should have spent less money on the Islamic nuclear bomb on more on infrastructure?

Russia is asking for aid in fighting its forest fires, but it still has money for nuclear weapons, too.

Of course, we could be building miles of high speed rail for what we're chucking down this rat hole.

And what's an "Islamic nuclear bomb"?

All in all a rather unsympathetic response to the current situation as depicted in the OP.

into our nuclear weapons programs. "Islamic atomic bomb" refers to Pakistan's weapons development.

"When New Delhi tested its first atomic bomb in 1974, Islamabad stepped up its own efforts. The late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was then Pakistan's Prime Minister, warned that "we will eat leaves and grass, even go hungry" to build the country's own weapon. "There's a Hindu bomb, a Jewish bomb and a Christian bomb," Bhutto once wrote. "There must be an Islamic bomb."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920461,00.html#ixzz0wJfNKdZG

I hadn't heard of that phrase before.

With regards to your original question: the leaders should have spent less money on the Islamic nuclear bomb on more on infrastructure?

Yes, they should have. But they didn't and the situation now is what it is, unfortunately. If they don't fix their totally destroyed (meagre) infrastructure we will be seeing a whole load of trouble erupt when the "Climate Change Refugees" make their exodus, as I was discussing with Sabrina upthread.

Sort of like the parent who blows the rent money at the slots complaining about the lack of aid to buy the kids food.

These paragraphs make the point clearer...

The United Nations says that less than $45 million in international aid has been committed, with another $91 million pledged. Within the first 10 days after the 2005 earthquake in the Pakistani region of Kashmir, nearly $300 million had either been pledged or committed. Ten days after the Haitian earthquake this year, that number surpassed $1.6 billion.

U.N. officials say that the floods have affected more people than the combined total from the Kashmir earthquake, the Haitian earthquake and the 2004 Asian tsunami. But unlike those crises, in which the scale of damage was almost immediately apparent, this one has unfolded gradually, and Pakistanis say they worry the world has not yet taken notice.

no one knows the horror of a flood better than people in new orleans but i think there's a fear that how do we know the people in need will get the money? there's a fear that cash could be easily diverted to our enemies, such as the taliban

there's a lot of broken trust w. pakistan, which causes people to hesitate to give


i wouldn't want "several billion" usa dollars to go out there, only to find that another 9-11 or another bunch of taliban schools were funded w. some of the money

i doubt i'm only the person around w. those fears either

with haiti i had no hesitation, if a little money goes into somebody's pocket where it shouldn't, well, it's buying a fancy car or something, but if money gets diverted in pakistan, it could be going to terror -- there's the difference -- i can't really go wrong by giving to haiti (i went thru doctors w/out borders)

i also think it's completely unrealistic for pakistan to expect india to help, why should they? they've been victimized by multiple terror attacks originating in pakistan over the years...they would feel really stupid if they gave, only to end up funding another attack on themselves

pakistan has a real problem that goes far beyond floods and earthquake

the taliban statement has all the reality & believability of "don't throw me in that briar patch!" -- i'm sorry, i just can't trust them, and i can't trust pakistan, because they have gone too many years w/out dealing w. these extremists

Such as DWB (as you mentioned) Save the Children or the Red Cross / Crescent?

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/allcontent.cfm?id=59

http://www.savethechildren.org/emergencies/asia/pakistan-floods-2010/

http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/10/10081101/index.asp

Just a suggestion.

I always prefer agencies like red cross and doctors without borders than to giving the money to government agencies...regardless of the country

ps: when i initially heard of the floods i thought they were quite small...but over time i have realized that these are floods like no other. :(

something should be done to help those people, not just from the floods but also to let them get back on their feet when the waters recede. As someone who has experienced the south Asian tsunami first hand...i can understand how bad this is.

:(