Flood catastrophe

Syed Nadeem Sarwar

Regional Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Daniel Toole has appealed to the international community to understand and recognise the magnitude of the calamity and generously support relief efforts in Pakistan. He labelled the floods as “the biggest emergency on planet earth to this day.” He said, “It is beyond what any one government, organisation, or people can do. This is what the world needs to understand.”



The cost of rebuilding Pakistan after its devastating floods has been estimated at $15 billion. At the initial stage, the international community’s response to this catastrophe was disappointing. Later following criticism from relief agencies and Britain and appeal by the government of Pakistan and UN, more countries have pledged aid or increased pledges, including France, Germany and Japan among the G7 richest nations. The UN appealed last week for $460 million for immediate relief efforts. It has received 40 percent — about $184 million — of that so far.

An additional $43 million has been pledged. But the UN says international aid has been slow and that it has raised only a third of the $460m needed for emergency relief. The funding has reached 54.5 percent of the United Nations target, though that included pledges that were yet to turn into cash. The World Bank is to lend $900 million to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding. Saudi Arabia has raised $20.5 million in aid on the first day of a national campaign for flood affectees. Japan has pledged an additional $10 million aid. Australia pledged extra $21.6 million in aid. US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson said that America had committed $87 million in aid and expected to give more. Germany decided to substantially increase its assistance for the flood relief activities in Pakistan to Euro 15m, equivalent to about $20 million. France has decided to send more humanitarian aid. France has already pledged 10.5 million euros. Canada announced to provide up to $32 million in urgent aid. Even Afghanistan has donated $1 million to help the flood victims.



The government has admitted to being unable to cope with the scale of the crisis and an outpouring of rage from the survivors. The aid being pledged so far is peanuts and not enough to meet the enormous challenge ahead. Dozens of protesters in various cities have accused politicians of ignoring flood victims. They are of the opinion that the politicians want to save their own lands and factories. The economy of the country alone cannot sustain these damages. This fact is rightly pointed out by the UNICEF official in his appeal to the international community.

It is the collective responsibility of every individual. The billionaires of the country, particularly business tycoons, mill owners and landlords should come forward at this hour of trial. All political parties should mobilise their workers to help the flood affectees. There are confirmed reports that the Taliban and other militant groups are actively participating in relief efforts. The situation is alarming. They can use this calamity to increase their foothold in the flood-hit areas by taking on charitable roles and winning the victims’ support. Unfortunately, the major political parties – the PPP and PML-N have yet to give a call to their workers to participate in relief efforts. Our government should also negotiate with the international community to get its debts written off as the G-7 bloc of countries in February cancelled Haiti’s debts after the recent Haitian calamity. The money saved from there could be used for rehabilitation and reconstruction purposes.