Translate

Search This Blog

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Flood survivors in Pakistan

At least 17 flood victims, including nine children, have died from disease and hunger in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, officials and media reports said on Tuesday. Authorities have struggled to supply food, clean water, shelter and medicine to many of the more than 17 million people displaced by the worst floods the county has ever seen. UN aid organizations are also assisting in relief activities, but the process has been slow. Khair Mohammad Kaloro, director of operations at Sindh’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority, confirmed “there have been some deaths because of gastroenteritis” but downplayed the risk of a major outbreak of waterborne diseases. “There are more than 2,800 government—run relief camps where 900,000 people are staying,” Mr. Kaloro said. “We are providing them medical aid. Those who died were carrying these diseases when they reached the camps. They did not get these diseases at the camps.” UNICEF said eight-million children have been affected by the flooding and 3.5 million of them are in need of immediate aid to survive the catastrophe. Doctors Without Borders warned of more deaths and infections caused by dirty water. But in many other areas, the return of survivors to destroyed and damaged homes and swamped streets would be a difficult process. Pakistan has estimated that rebuilding infrastructure and helping flood victims with the recovery would require billions of dollars. The United Nations has so far received 325 million dollars after a 460—million—dollar aid appeal. The international community has also made direct donations and pledges to Pakistan, taking the total funds to one billion dollars.

India announces $20m more aid for Pakistan

India has announced an additional monetary assistance of $20 million to Pakistan to help it tackle the worst-ever floods witnessed in recent past. Making the announcement in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said the decision followed Pakistan's willingness to accept India's initial offer of $5 million, to be routed through the United Nations. He made a similar announcement in the Rajya Sabha. He made a similar announcement in the Rajya Sabha too.
“As a more concrete assessment of the damage caused by this natural disaster and the urgent needs of the people of Pakistan emerge, the [Indian] government has decided to increase its assistance … from $5 million, announced earlier, to $25 million,” he said in a suo motu statement. Of the total money, $20 million would go to the ‘Pakistan Initial Floods Emergency Response Plan' through the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Efforts. The rest would be contributed to the U.N. World Food Programme. Mr. Krishna recalled that India offered $5 million, when he spoke on the telephone to his Pakistan counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on August 13. On August 19, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told his Pakistan counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani that India was ready to do more. Initially, Pakistan was reluctant to accept the aid, but agreed after the U.S. intervened. However, Pakistan asked India last week to route the aid through the U.N.