Pakistan flood toll rises but international aid fails to flow
Donations far lower than past crises, warns Oxfam, with India offering no relief at all to historical enemy
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 [Burma], 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 [of the 14 million affected] 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.
Neva Khan, Oxfam country director in Pakistan, said: "The rains are continuing and [with] each hour that passes the flooding is multiplying misery across the entire country. This is a mega disaster and it needs a mega response."
To date, only five countries – Britain, the US, Australia, Italy and Kuwait – have committed or pledged more than $5m in new funding.
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