U.N. seeks $2 billion aid for Pakistan flood relief

By Louis Charbonneau
Fri Sep 17, 2010


(Reuters) - The United Nations asked member states Friday for $2 billion to help Pakistan recover from massive floods that have displaced millions of people, the largest natural disaster appeal in U.N. history.

The appeal folds in an August 11 call for $460 million. The money is intended to cover the needs of up to 14 million people for the next 12 months, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

"We must also do our part," U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos said. "We simply cannot stand by and watch the immense suffering in a disaster of this scale."

She told reporters that 80 percent of the $460 million in emergency aid requested by the United Nations for Pakistan last month had been received.

OCHA said the revised appeal to the 192 U.N. member states covers humanitarian and recovery needs for Pakistan, including projects in agriculture, community restoration, education, health and shelter.

Previously the largest U.N. disaster aid appeal was $1.5 billion for Haiti after a massive earthquake hit the Caribbean state in January.

Separately, the U.N. mission of Pakistan's neighbor and rival, India, announced it had given the United Nations $20 million to be used in the Pakistan relief efforts.

Last month, India donated $5 million for the relief effort. Pakistan hesitated for several days before agreeing to accept that donation, which Islamabad said should go through the United Nations.

The two nuclear powers, which have fought several wars, continue to have an uneasy relationship. India accuses Pakistan of fueling unrest in the disputed Kashmir region, but Islamabad says it only lends moral support to what it calls Kashmir's independence movement.

DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

The floods in Pakistan began more than a month ago and swept through the country, leaving an area almost the size of England under water. OCHA said the floods have affected more than 20 million people, damaged or destroyed nearly 1.9 million homes and killed 1,700 people.

OCHA said Pakistan's development prospects may be disrupted for years.

"The damage to the economic infrastructure and livelihoods is immense," the statement said. "Irrigation, drainage and storage facilities are badly affected."

Farmers who lost their crops and who are not able to plant their fields by November will likely remain dependent on aid until well into 2012, while hundreds of thousands more people lost their shops or other small businesses, it added.

"We are seeing the equivalent of a new disaster every few days in Pakistan," Amos said. "Yesterday, new breaches of the embankments of Manchar Lake in Sindh flooded more villages. Millions of people have lost everything."

Although the water is beginning to recede, large areas remain submerged and some villages in the southern province of Sindh are facing floods as the Indus River, swollen by heavy monsoon rains, flows south to the Arabian Sea.

Jolie's plea on Pakistan floods: 'We have to support them'

From CNN:

For Angelina Jolie, the scale and impact of the floods that have devastated Pakistan are apparent on the faces of those she meets.

She saw it in the eyes of a couple in their 70s – a husband who served twice in the military and built his house by himself for his family, one they've lived in for nearly 40 years.

"The man spoke to the fact that he never felt in his lifetime he is ever going to be able to recuperate what he lost," Jolie told Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent. "That he would never have again nice things. He would never have a nice bed, a nice house. And she – they lived in this place since 1972. And raised their children and their grandchildren there. In a moment, a few hours, it was completely gone."

Jolie spoke to Gupta during her fourth trip to Pakistan as a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency to help bring awareness to the country in the wake of devastating floods that have affected 21 million people.

It's a scene Jolie said may be hard for some to understand – especially because of how far away it is. If people saw the eyes of the children pleading for help, perhaps they'd understand the Pakistanis' will to live, she said.

"If they met all these children [who are] so resilient and are still children and so full of life and love and hope," Jolie said that she thinks people would grasp the situation better.

"I think it is – this part of the world, they are resilient people. Think of all that they have been hit with. They continue to move on, to rebuild."

Jolie said she wasn't sure what she'd see when she got to Pakistan. But after touring villages, the trip evoked a cause close to home for her – reminding her of the work Brad Pitt is doing in New Orleans, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina. It's a comparison she said she hopes will help people understand why they need to send aid.

"I thought I'm going to see a lot of wet areas and tents, and what I saw was if people could think about New Orleans and the scale of that and how devastating that was. ... There was so much that was full of toxic materials and death and that's on a huge scale, and this is no different."

Any conflict in the area shouldn't prevent people from caring, Jolie said.

"We have to support them," Jolie said. "For all the people worried about conflict in this part of the world, they think it is far away and don't understand the corruption. The only way to make for a healthier, more hopeful, stronger Pakistan and Afghanistan is to help support education and help people, especially in this time of need, and not allow for more devastation and more desperation."

ASSU Executive Appeals

Dear Stanford,


As many of you have heard, Pakistan was hit by torrential flooding a few weeks ago. The flooding has continued ever since, and it has devastated the life and livelihood of 20 million people, according to an estimate of the UN. Stories, visuals and reports coming out of the flood hit zone are heart wrenching, but even they do not do a very good job portraying the enormity of the unfolding tragedy. The scale and sheer size of the disaster is overwhelmingly huge, with aid workers describing the flood’s impact as worse than the 2004 South East Asian Tsunami and the 2010 Haiti Earthquake combined.

This is an opportunity for us to come together. We are launching the ‘Pakistan Flood Relief Effort’ campaign to rally support and raise funds for this mammoth catastrophe. We have partnered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and all funds raised will go to this organization to aid Pakistan flood victims.

The campaign is online and you can start contributing now. We are asking students to donate just $5. We will be matching the first $500 of funds raised from our executive salary. Students, members of the faculty, employees, alumni and friends of the Stanford community, please support the flood-affected people of Pakistan. Visit the relief effort website.

Our university has always shown extraordinary commitment to humanitarian issues. This once again is one such humanitarian disaster, albeit more devastating than any other in recent history. It calls for action, and we can help the 20 million affected in Pakistan.

Sincerely,


Angelina Cardona, Kelsei Wharton and Asfandyar Mir
ASSU President, Vice President, Director Flood Relief Effort

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