U.N. Sounds Alarm on Aid for Pakistan (Pic Heavy)

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

UNITED NATIONS — Aid organizations and the United Nations itself expressed alarm on Tuesday that the plight of millions of Pakistanis flooded from their land has yet to strike a sufficiently sympathetic nerve among donors — neither governments nor the general public — with aid trickling in far more slowly than needed.

They cited a variety of factors for the sluggish reaction, starting with minimal media coverage globally and a relatively low death toll. Other elements, they said, included the preoccupation with economic problems; donor fatigue with natural disasters and the August vacation season when many people pay less attention to the news. Finally, Pakistan itself suffers from an image problem as a hotbed of Taliban activity and the source of renegade nuclear sales, which can give donors pause.

“What is clear is that we need a lot more and we need it quickly,” said John Holmes, the humanitarian coordinator for the United Nations. The international outpouring after recent disasters like Haiti or the Asian tsunami in 2004 was driven partly by the huge, sudden loss of life and the striking images of rescue efforts, he said.

=snip=

The United Nations began an appeal on Aug. 11 for $460 million for food, clean water, shelter and medical care for an estimated six million people, many of whom, it says, have not been reached with aid. As of Tuesday, nations had sent $182 million, or nearly 40 percent, and pledged $43 million more. Mr. Holmes said that it was hard to quantify aid being sent directly to Pakistan outside the United Nations system, from blankets to helicopters, but that it had probably reached $200 million.

Still, the official reaction of several governments was telling.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/world/asia/18nations.html?_r=1&hp

---

A boy and his young sister await the distribution of aid. The United Nations has warned that a shortage of aid money is threatening
6 million people, the majority of them children and infants, with potentially lethal diseases carried by contaminated water.


An aerial view taken from a Navy helicopter shows a flooded area of Jacobabad, about 40 miles from Sukkur on Tuesday, August 17.


World Vision, a Humanitarian aid organization, submitted this photo to iReport. World Vision has already delivered food and water
to more than 21,000 people living in school buildings and on what's left of the main roads in Charsadda and Nowshera.

(http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Turborama/175">My Journal entry with the BEFORE & AFTER pics of Nowshera)


Zubadia Razia, 20, walks through the mud and rubble that was once her home in the devastated Charsadda district. She is looking
for a suitcase she kept clothes in, but it is nowhere to be found. Large areas were damaged when three rivers in the district --
the Jindi, Kabul and Swat -- overflowed.


Almost all the mud houses at Azakhel camp have been turned into clay mounds and twisted debris.


Twins at a camp for flood survivors in Pakistan on Tuesday.

More pics here: http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2010/08/world/gallery.large.pakistan.flood/aug.17.html

here: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/18/world/20100818-PSTAN.html

& here: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/14/world/20100814-PAKISTAN-3.html


Why Western donors are snubbing Pakistan after giving to Haiti
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/why-western-donors-are-snubbing-pakistan-after-giving-to-haiti/article1675172/

-

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Have they ask Bin Laden for help?

[iamthebandfanman]

6. actually...

the taliban and insurgents have been helping...

from some reports ive read, more so than the west or their own government/army...

[Turborama]

9. When you say, "some reports" you've read

Could you share the links to them, please?

[Robb]

23. LOL

[Warpy]

32. You don't get it

Bin Laden's group has garnered so much local support wherever they go because they do help, listening to local people and supplying what they need, whether it's health clinics or roads.

You don't win hearts and minds with bombs. Food and plastic sheeting are a lot cheaper and will be remembered just as long.

[Delphinus]

2. Flood of misery is so true.

These photos, especially the one of the two babies, are heartbreaking.

[Turborama]

3. CNN International: Desperation outpaces flood aid in Pakistan

By the CNN Wire Staff
August 18, 2010 --

Karachi, Pakistan -- Despite millions of dollars in support from other countries, the flow of aid is failing to keep pace with the need for help in flood-ravaged Pakistan.

About a fifth of the country is submerged under water. At least 2 million people are homeless, and the threat of waterborne diseases like cholera is a serious concern as children walk with their families through chest-high filthy water.

The United Nations says it has received less than half of the $460 million it needs for relief efforts.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told CNN the international community can be confident relief funds will end up in the right hands.

"Certainly, yes," Gilani said.

Full article including video report: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/18/pakistan.floods/index.html?hpt=T1#fbid=5tFS21of5oJ&wom=false

[Soylent Brice]

4. .

:(

[Turborama]

5. “Water is still on the rise, and we are in a helpless situation”

Desperation Grows Over Pakistan Flood Damage

NYT

LAHORE, Pakistan — With disastrous flooding spreading yet more widely in Pakistan, reports of looting and protests over food on Tuesday deepened the sense of desperation across Punjab Province, the country’s most populous region and its agricultural hub.

Flood survivors told stories of taking the search for aid upon themselves, swimming to dry areas to find food for people still marooned and waiting for rescue.

=snip=

“Water is still on the rise, and we are in a helpless situation,” said Muhammad Usman, a district administrator.

One resident, Abdul Ghafoor, described how he and a group of 50 people survived while they were stranded on the roof of a concrete house in Muzaffargarh. Each day, he said, one person would set out, floating on tires and rubber tubes, to seek food and water for the group. “We have been calling army and government people, but nobody listens to us,” he said. “Our children are dying of hunger.”

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/18/world/asia/18pstan.html

Photos: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/18/world/20100818-PSTAN.html

[SkyDaddy7]

7. This is so SAD! It baffles me...

How can anyone whether it be Muslim or Christian or any faith believe this is the work of a loving, caring & just god? Of course there is the catch all excuse believers use "god works in mysterious ways" to "rationalize" such irrational beliefs.

I just wish at some point at least in western society primarily in America that we would see the world for what it is...Then maybe we would trust science and start doing something to slow the MAN MADE DISASTERS WE ARE CREATING!

What will it take for us to realize we are burning our own house down? The hundreds of millions of dollars being poured in by corporations to mislead the public on top of the tens perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars that Christians spend to discredit science in the eyes of the believers is literally killing millions of people...I know people will blow this kind of talk off as just another "Angry Atheist" but they are wrong...I am a very very "SAD Atheist" watching what I see as pure lunacy guide our actions rather than rational thinking.

Will it take a disaster like this one to happen in America to change people's thinking? I doubt it...Such a disaster would be used by Christian leaders as proof we are not pious enough. Oh well?

[lunatica]

8. The confluence of this tragic story with the glitzy advertising for dieting tips

and Capital One low interest rates is bizarre and should tell us something of our American disconnect. Seeing both so casually intermixed is jarring.

Have we become weary of natural disasters killing so many people? There seems to be a struggle between what is real and what wants to pass for real. Is it more important to have more credit to buy more things or to have a flat tummy than to bother with third world disasters? After all it's happening to people who don't even speak English. Let's go shopping.

[Turborama]

10. You mean next to the slide shows?

I hadn't noticed them until you mentioned it, as I had been focused on the photos, and I went back and had a look here: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/18/world/20100818-PSTAN.html

There was a flashy ad with chandeliers for "The new renovated Trump Tower" next to the picture of a crowd of women waiting outside a truck for food aid.

As you described so succinctly, "seeing both so casually intermixed is jarring". It turned my stomach when I saw that just then. Where's the empathy, sensitivity and common decency?

[lunatica]

17. Actually I mean the ads on at the top of every DU thread and at the end of the

thread. Sometimes the ads are embedded within the OP. I can't be the only one who is seeing them. They're impossible to miss since they're animated too.

[Turborama]

30. Oh, I don't see those ads, but now I know I totally agree with the total incongruity of it

I've seen ads in the past when I haven't had a star and I often found them to be really unsuitable and inappropriate. I wonder if it's a Google thing that picks up key words in threads and matches them, regardless of the context?

As for the rest of what you said in that post about disaster fatigue/shopping etc, I couldn't agree more.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

31. Use FireFox with the following add-on:

AdBlockPlus http://adblockplus.org/en/installation

Use the recommended definition/pattern for United States after installing it. It will cure much of what you are seeing.

[Romulox]

11. Pakistan is the new N. Korea? Saving its money for its nuclear weapons

while demanding the West provide basic care for its people?

I am not arguing against aid, but I do wonder how this is supposed to work now. :shrug:

[Turborama]

12. Empathy

Look it up.

[Romulox]

13. Vapid.

Likewise.

[Turborama]

14. I don't think that word means what you think it means. n/t

[Romulox]

15. "without liveliness or spirit; dull or tedious"

As when someone asks a valid and practical question, and another pounces with a charge that one therefore lacks empathy. Both dull and tedious.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vapid

[Turborama]

19. Maybe I should have been clearer

Look it up and reflect on what it means.

Empathy is the capacity to, through imagination rather than literally, share the sadness or happiness of another sentient being.

Theorists and their definitions

Empathy is an ability with many different definitions. They cover a broad spectrum, ranging from feeling a concern for other people that creates a desire to help them, experiencing emotions that match another person's emotions, knowing what the other person is thinking or feeling, to blurring the line between self and other. Below is a list of various definitions of empathy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathy#Theorists_and_their_definitions



Also, see this: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4506341&mesg_id=4506397

[Romulox]

21. Another vapid response

"Empathy" in no way answers my question, nor is anyone unaware of it's definition.

What's happening here is that you are taking advantage of a tragedy to scold strangers. Your trumped up and self-serving moral outrage helps no one.

[Turborama]

22. Please go to the link I added in my edit

These responses about Pakistan's nuclear weapons have been repeated and discussed ad nauseum for the past 2 weeks. It is literally getting old.

Hence my original 4 word reply.

And in case you don't get which link I mean, here it is again: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4506341&mesg_id=4506397

[cilla4progress]

16. One wonders

where cash donations would actually go?

[Turborama]

20. If you browse through UNICEF's website you can see what they're doing with the money

http://www.unicefusa.org/news/news-from-the-field/flood-affected-children-and-women-in-need-of-urgent-aid-pakistan.html

And this entry on my Journal has links to Save the Children, Red Cross/Crescent & Doctors Without Borders' Pakistan Aid homepages: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Turborama/172

[cilla4progress]

25. When I give it will be Unicef or

Medicins san Frontieres...but at the final cache hold; the final payment - will it be to programs that will help, or will that bag of rice be stolen away by someone more powerful and influential, than the young girl carrying her sibling?

It won't stop me from giving in this disaster, but I bet it's having an impact on overall giving shortages. We understand that much of the resource we have sent to that part of the world has been stolen away from intended use.

[L0oniX]

18. BS! Only 2% of the pledges made for Haiti have been received.

This will also be another show with no go.

[OhioChick]

24. Good God....

:(

[OhioChick]

26. Angelina Jolie urges aid for flood-hit Pakistan

1 day ago

LONDON — Angelina Jolie says it's vital that people help Pakistan's flood victims and not surrender to compassion fatigue.

The floods have displaced 20 million people, but donations are below those for catastrophes like the Haitian earthquake or the Asian tsunami.

Jolie said she understood that "it is getting hard for people — they see Haiti, they see these other events ... and they get exhausted by the time another big one rolls around."

But she said Pakistanis face "mass death, mass displacement, and this situation is going to get worse."

Jolie has visited Haiti, Iraq and other countries as a U.N. goodwill ambassador.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hioh01z_28DRIuxdg5ZvedZeXvQwD9HL88FO0

[Turborama]

29. I heard that being briefly mentioned on CNN International

Thanks for the news story and the link.

I wonder if she's actually going to go there...

[PADemD]

27. What has the Pakistani government done with all the billions

that have already been sent there? Some of it just last year.

http://www.newsweek.com/2009/10/21/about-those-billions.html

[ihavenobias]

28. Thanks for keeping us up to date on all of this Turborama. n/t

[Turborama]

33. Atlantic Wire: Why Isn't the World Donating More to Pakistan?

By MAX FISHER | August 18, 2010 9:11am

The United Nations has warned that the biggest challenge in the ongoing relief efforts for the millions displaced by flooding in Pakistan is the lack of money and supplies. Over a million Pakistanis lack even a tent to sleep in, and as many as 13.8 million have no access to clean drinking water, threatening outbreaks of serious diseases such as cholera, particularly among children. In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, agencies and individuals around the world were far more generous, donating $1 billion USD within days. Why has the world been so much more sparing with Pakistan?

'Paltry and Pathetic Response' Former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg writes, "UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, with the strong backing of the Obama Administration, plans to convene an emergency UN meeting to kick start international donations on August 19...with the U.S. already having directed $76 million in urgent emergency flood relief...evidenced by U.S. military helicopters running relief supplies ferried in from U.S. bases throughout the region. Unfortunately, of the $460 million deemed immediately needed by the UN for disaster relief barely 50% has actually been delivered, the lion's share from the U.S. and other western nations. Indeed, Deputy British Prime Minister Nick Clegg deemed the international response to be 'absolutely pitiful' with fully 25% of the assistance coming from the UK so far."

No Sudden, 'Telegenic' Loss of Life The New York Times' Neil MacFarquhar writes, "The international outpouring after recent disasters like Haiti or the Asian tsunami in 2004 was driven partly by the huge, sudden loss of life and the striking images of rescue efforts, he said. A slow-moving flood with a death toll of about 1,500 people fails to provoke a similar reaction." UN humanitarian coordinator John Holmes adds, "An earthquake is a much more dramatic, emotional, telegenic event because it happens so quickly."

Americans 'Wary' of Pakistani Government The Los Angeles Times notes, "Americans may be wary of sending more cash to a Pakistani government with limited capacity, one accused of being corrupt at home and a suspect ally in neighboring Afghanistan. Yet the U.S. government and others must step up the pace and scale of help to Pakistan. Individual donors too must open their wallets, as they did after Haiti's earthquake and the South Asian tsunami, if not directly to the Pakistani government, then to trusted private groups working there."

Full article with embedded links: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Why-Isnt-the-World-Donating-More-to-Pakistan-4740