Pakistan Flooding News

With hundreds of villages marooned and highways and bridges cut in half by swollen rivers, food rations and access to clean water have only been provided to around 500,000 million flood survivors, the U.N. said.

The United Nations has warned that up to 3.5 million children could be in danger of contracting deadly diseases carried through contaminated water and insects in a crisis that has disrupted the lives of at least a tenth of Pakistan's 170 million people.

"We have a country which has endemic watery diarrhea, endemic cholera, endemic upper respiratory infections and we have the conditions for much much expanded problems," Daniel Toole, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, told a news conference.

"We cannot spend pledges. We cannot buy purification tablets, we cannot support Pakistan with pledges. I urge the international community to urgently change pledges into checks."

U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization spokesman Ali Khan said Pakistan could face food shortages if its farmers miss the sowing season which is due to start next month.

Up to 1,600 people have been killed and 2 million made homeless in Pakistan's worst floods in decades. The United Nations has reported the first case of cholera, but only a third of the $459 million aid needed for initial relief has arrived.

A Prince Albert doctor is providing shelter and support to 60 victims in Pakistan where disastrous floods have left more than 20 million people homeless and killed around 1,500 in the past month.

"This is a high-scale disaster," said Dr. Mohammad Hussain. "These people have lost everything in the flood - their homes have been demolished and their belongings swept away."

The 60 victims are being housed in a school in the city of Multan, south of the capital Islamabad, Hussain said. His brother-in-law is co-ordinating the effort, making sure they are given clothing and food.

"Every little bit counts," he said. "We are trying on an individual level to collect money for the victims. Our objective is to look after 100 to 150 people in total," he said, adding he hopes to eventually help the victims rebuild their homes.

Hussain also mentioned that being in the month of Ramadan, helping provide aid in his home country is even more meaningful, since Muslims are required to pay a religious tax called "zaqat" to charitable causes.

Though the Pakistani community in Prince Albert is small, home to around eight or nine families, said Hussain, other people are trying to help.

Ukhasana Ali, 36, a mother of four and medical assistant in Prince Albert, immigrated from Pakistan in December 2004. She said her husband and other families are sending money through Western Union to social workers that are collecting and distributing the aid.

Though Ali said her immediate family in Pakistan is safe, the disaster is unimaginable.

Sikander Javed, 47, who left Pakistan 10 years ago and now lives in Rosthern, said some of his cousins and extended family working as farmers on the banks of the Chenab River have lost their homes to the disaster.

"Their houses have been destroyed, they are filled by one or two feet of water," he said. "We are talking about a whole nation, which is my family too, and people are dying."

The Pakistan Canada Cultural Association in Saskatoon is holding several events to help raise funds for the victims in Pakistan, said vice-president Kasim Shafi.

On Aug. 21 a one-hour program on 90.5 CFCR radio station in Saskatoon, starting at 12:30 p.m., will be dedicated to raising money for the disaster, kiosks will be set up in Saskatoon malls where people can donate and a dinner will be organized for Sept. 17 with all ticket proceeds donated to the effort.

The United Nations reported Sunday more than 20 million people have been left homeless. The Canadian Press reported around 1,500 have been killed by the floods.

Heavy monsoon rains started in Pakistan on July 22, moving from the north to south end of the county killing more than 10,000 livestock and flooding around 700,000 hectares of farmland.

The Canadian government announced on Sunday it is giving $33 million in aid to Pakistan flood victims.

Donations can be made online through the Canadian Red Cross at www.redcross.ca under Pakistan Floods 2010.

Islamabad - The United Nations on Tuesday expressed concern over deteriorating health conditions in Pakistan's flood-affected areas and warned of an increasing threat to life.Twenty million refugees are living in relief camps or out in the open with little food, clean water or medical supplies. Reports of waterborne diseases including diarrhoea, gastroenteritis and skin diseases have been coming from the camps."The expectation is that the number of sick people will increase, the number of mortalities will increase," Dr Abdullah Assaedi, deputy regional director of the World Health Organization, said.Assaedi said floods had damaged or destroyed 20 per cent of the nation's health facilities and 30,000 medical workers were affected.Officials also said three people had died at relief camps.A 4-year-old boy had died of gastroenteritis at a camp in the southern port city of Karachi, health officials were quoted as saying by the Dawn newspaper. A 6-day-old infant had reportedly died of tetanus.Medical officer Khalid Ansari said a team had diagnosed 400 people with high fever and gastroenteritis, most of them women, children and elderly people. Skin diseases were also very common, he added.Officials in Rajanpur, a city in the central province of Punjab, which has been heavily flooded, said a 17-year-old girl had died of gastroenteritis at the district hospital.UNICEF said Tuesday that women and children, "not in hundreds of thousands but in millions," were at risk."We have a country that has endemic water diarrhoea, endemic cholera, and endemic respiratory infection. And we have conditions for much-expanded problems in those areas," Daniel Toole, the agency's regional director, said in Islamabad.The floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains two weeks ago have killed 1,400 people so far, submerged one-fifth of the country's land area and destroyed more than 700,000 houses as well as hundreds of kilometres of roads and numerous bridges.The UN has appealed for 460 million dollars to help at least 6 million people, but the country needs billions of dollars in the long term for rehabilitation.Martin Mogwanja, UN humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan, complained of the slow international response, saying the UN had so far received only 160 million dollars of donation pledges."This is far less than what we need at this urgent time as millions of people remain in urgent need," he said.The World Bank announced that it would provide 900 million dollars for reconstruction, but it was not clear whether the money was in the form of a loan or grant.Food was also short at the relief camps in Punjab and in the southern province of Sindh, forcing people to take to the streets.Police baton-charged flood victims who scuffled during the distribution of relief items in Sukkur and Nowshero Feroz districts of Sindh. Duniya television reported that four were injured in Sukkur.In Leyyah, hundreds of people blocked a main highway with piles of stale bread that the authorities had supplied at the relief camps.UNHCR, involved in major relief work in the south-western province of Balochistan, said Pakistan's emergency continues to worsen as bloated rivers head southwards, flooding new areas and triggering massive further displacement.With flood waters still surging, the Pakistan Meteorological Department has forecast rain and thundershowers in upper parts of the country.

SUKKUR, Pakistan – The World Bank said Tuesday it will redirect $900 million of its existing loans to Pakistan to help in flood recovery, as the U.N. warned that many of the 20 million people affected by the disaster have yet to receive any emergency aid.

The floods began three weeks ago but the crisis could yet worsen, with authorities warning that the swollen Indus River may burst its banks again in coming days.

Pakistan's shaky government has been sorely tested by the disaster, which has affected about a fifth of the area of the vast country of 170 million people. It comes atop a pile of other challenges including a weak economy and a violent Islamist insurgency.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari acknowledged Tuesday that the government had responded poorly to the widespread flooding. Zardari's reputation sank to new lows after he chose to visit Europe as the crisis was unfolding.

"Yes, the situation could be better. Yes, the arrangements could have been made better. Yes, everything could have been better. Alas! If we could have those resources," he told local aid groups in a meeting. "We have to move forward despite whatever criticism we get."

Local charities and international agencies have rushed food, water, shelter and medical treatment to the worst-hit areas in the northwest and Punjab and Sindh provinces. But aid agencies and the British government have complained that the international response to the disaster has not been generous enough.

The U.N. appealed last week for $459 million for immediate relief efforts. It has received 40 percent — about $184 million — of that so far, said Maurizio Giuliano, a U.N. spokesman. An additional $43 million has been pledged.

"We would like our pledges to turn into checks as soon as possible because the situation is getting very bad," Giuliano told The Associated Press.

The World Bank said the funds it is offering are to help Pakistan recover from the floods and would be redirected from ongoing and planned projects in the country. With huge destruction of roads and bridges and crops wiped out in many areas, authorities expect reconstruction to take years and cost billions.

World must do more for Pakistan flood

ISLAMABAD, (SANA): Aid worth millions of rupees poured in from Iran through ships and roads for the devastated flood- affectees that battered parts of the country and left millions homeless.

The aid from Iran includes tents, blankets, dry food, medicines and other necessary items worth $ 174,000. This aid reached through three ships and road as well which was handed over to the Red Cross in Pakistan for further distribution among the affectees.

Red Cross would distribute relief goods in the different flood affected areas.

The United Nations has appealed for 460 million dollars to deal with the immediate aftermath of the floods, estimating that 14 million have been affected and that 1,600 have died.

Waters are still high and the United Nations has now confirmed the country’s first cholera case in Mingora, in the northwestern district of Swat, and said at least 36,000 people were reportedly suffering from acute diarrhea.

EDMONTON — The Alberta government announced Monday it will donate half-a-million dollars to the Red Cross’s flood relief work in Pakistan.

The $500,000 donation matches the province’s donation to the Red Cross in January, after a massive earthquake in Haiti.

“Like many Albertans and Canadians, I have been shocked to see the devastation in Pakistan from the serious flooding that has occurred in the past three weeks,” Premier Ed Stelmach is quoted as saying in a news release issued by the government Monday.

The funding comes from the province’s Other Initiatives Program, through the department of culture and community spirit.

Charities and international organizations are calling the disaster in Pakistan the country’s worst crisis since partition from India more than 60 years ago. But while calling for more funding on the weekend, the United Nations also argued cash to get the nation back on its feet has been slow coming.

The UN estimates one in 10 Pakistanis or as many as 20 million people — are directly or indirectly affected by the floods.

With files from Agence France-Presse

The subtext: there's been a recent spike in anti-American sentiment in Pakistan.

In one week after launching its appeal for the Haiti earthquake back in January, the Humanitarian Coalition in Canada raised $3.5 million dollars.

Now, a week after a similar campaign for the devastating floods in Pakistan, the coalition has received only $200,000 dollars in public donations.

World Vision Canada has seen much the same response. In two weeks of fundraising for the Haiti earthquake, the group raised $10 million dollars in Canada. But as of today, Canadians have donated only $313,000 dollars to World Vision for the Pakistan flood victims.
In recent days, aid agencies have begun voicing their concerns over the slow donor response to the Pakistan floods.
Canadians, it seems, have been far less generous than in the past, despite the UN saying the number of people suffering from the massive floods — an estimated 20 million — could exceed the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.
The reasons for this, aid groups suggest, include the relatively low, reported death toll of 1,600 as well as the slow onset of the flooding compared with the more dramatic earthquakes and tsunami.
Relatively low-key coverage in the international media and a lack of celebrity involvement has also kept the flood disaster off many potential donors' radar, Molly Kinder, a Pakistan aid expert with the Washington-based Centre for Global Development told the Associated Press.
There may also be concerns about how the aid money will be used.
"We often note an image deficit with regards to Pakistan among Western public opinion," said Elizabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman at the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"As a result," she added, "Pakistan is among countries that are poorly financed, like Yemen."

'One fifth of the country'

The floods began in northwest Pakistan more than two weeks ago and have spread throughout the country.
Current estimates suggest as many as 20 million people and 160,000 square kilometres of land — about 20 per cent of the country — have been affected.
Aid agencies are working with government officials to assess the damage and deliver humanitarian assistance, but bad weather and damaged infrastructure are creating challenges for aid organizations.
Islamic Relief Canada said the reported death toll does not reflect the devastation that has been inflicted on people in the affected regions.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday that the flooding in Pakistan is the worst disaster he has ever seen. "This has been a heart-wrenching day for me," he said.
"I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past, I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this."
The UN has been struggling to obtain $460 million US to provide emergency aid. Only 20 per cent of the money has been pledged since the appeal was launched on Aug. 11.
The U.S. has been the largest international donor. It has pledged $76 million in assistance. Eighteen U.S. military and civilian aircrafts are also being used to support relief operations.
"We've continued to increase our level of support and commitment to the relief operations there," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said.
Care Canada's communications manager, Kieran Green, blames the lazy days of summer for the lukewarm response to the disaster.
"People are not around and may not be paying attention to the news to understand how widespread the devastation really is."
Red Cross Canada has received $540,000 dollars in donations to date.
"It is slightly lower than we have seen in the past for other disasters but this crisis is due to a series of floods that have been taking place over a three-week period. It does not have the same impact as when you see a disaster like an earthquake, which has an immediate cause and effect," said Pam Aung Thin, a spokesperson for Red Cross Canada.
Robert Fox, executive director of Oxfam Canada said the group is now beginning to see a steady rise in donations.
"While the initial support from the Canadian government was modest, the increase from $2 million to $35 million is a positive sign and helped underline for the public the severity of the situation in Pakistan," he said. "Increased media attention has also drawn the public's attention."
Dave Toycen, the president of World Vision Canada, said people have raised concerns over whether the aid would get through and if it would be effectively used.
"The government has made it easier for aid workers and journalists to get in and we will be able to provide more evidence-based assurance on how the funds are being used and be able to show that those who need the relief are getting it."
Toycen acknowledged the reasons for the lower rate of donations but said, "I don't think any of these justify as reasons not to help."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced this morning the money would support emergency humanitarian relief efforts.

"Australians remain deeply concerned as the flood disaster in Pakistan continues to worsen," Ms Gillard said in a statement.

"It is now estimated that up to 20 million people have been affected by the floods. More than 750,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed.

"Despite the ongoing international assistance effort, people affected by the floods are facing new difficulties. Without safe drinking water, food and shelter the risk of waterborne disease, dehydration and malnutrition is escalating.

"Today, in response to the United Nations and the Pakistan Government’s appeal for further assistance, Australia will provide an additional $24 million to support emergency humanitarian relief efforts."

Ms Gillard said the funding would be channelled through international agencies, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Non-Government Organisations.

The new funding brings Australia's total commitment to $35 million.

OTTAWA — Fears the Taliban and other extremist groups will exploit gaps in international and domestic aid efforts in Pakistan to gain a stronger foothold in the flood-ravaged country are unfounded, says the country's high commissioner to Canada.

Akbar Zeb said current and future international aid commitments, plus a generous outpouring of help from "moderate" Islamic groups within Pakistan will not leave a void for extremist organizations to exploit.

"I'm not really concerned the Taliban will be filling a vacuum," Zed said Monday in an interview with Postmedia News.

"What people need to do is distinguish really between the so-called moderate forces and the really hardliners. The Taliban constitute a very minute portion of Pakistan."

He also said the government of Pakistan is "fully focused and able to reach out to its own people."

Members of the 300,000-strong Pakistani diaspora in Canada said they worry the generosity of the Conservative government and individual Canadians could be affected by the political situation in Pakistan, including questions about the government's will to curb the presence and influence of the Taliban along the border with Afghanistan.

They said they are particularly disappointed the federal government, which has announced $33 million in emergency assistance to Pakistan, has not offered to match dollars donated by individual Canadians — something it quickly offered to do earlier this year when Haiti was hit with a horrific earthquake.

Farrukh Alam, president of the Canada Pakistan Association, says he's disheartened by talk about how the Taliban might play into the crisis, and why people should think twice about donating because the money could be siphoned off by the Taliban and distributed in its own name.

"Forget the Taliban. Forget the political calculations," Alam said in an interview from Vancouver. "When people are in trouble you go help."

Zeb described Canada's commitment to provide $33 million in emergency aid as "very, very generous," and said he expects the Conservative government will add to the pot if necessary.

"The message we get is that they will continue to assess our needs," Zeb said, noting discussions are ongoing between the two governments on if and when to deploy Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART).

The government reiterated Monday it has no plans to establish a matching fund "at this time" to respond to the disaster, which has left an estimated 20 million people homeless and possibly thousands dead.

The Canadian International Development Agency, the lead organization on the file, says the current response is "appropriate," and that a "matching fund" is only one of many tools in Canada's response kit.

Farooq Chaudhry, president of the Pakistani Canadian Cultural Society, said he hasn't given up hope the government will agree eventually to match private donations.

Chaudhry said the slower response on Pakistan is understandable. The needs in Haiti were urgent and captured in heartbreaking detail by cameras, he said.

By contrast, the flooding of huge swaths of land in far-flung Pakistan is a slower-moving tragedy that will have devastating consequences for years and decades, but which might not have had the same initial impact on donors.

LONDON, (SANA): Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N Chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan does not need aid for the flood affectees from the West rather it should stand on its own feet.

In an interview with a UK’s Daily, he said that the resources were present in the country for the reconstruction of the houses demolished due to the worst ever floods adding it was the time to evolve a strategy for the reconstruction after the devastating floods.

He maintained that the commission being formulated for fund raising should be independent.

He urged the leaders of all the political parties to jointly work for the formulation of an independent commission aiming at fund raising.

He said that two billion Pounds could be collected for the rehabilitation of the flood victims if the government cut down its official expenses while $3 billion could be collected from the domestic resources if the government show agreement in this regard.

He said the provincial governments should allocate amounts of money for the reconstruction work out of the provincial budgets.

He said the Punjab, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Sindh should release amount for the rehabilitation.

He observed that the international community could not provide Pakistan with as much aids as it had provided in 2005 earthquake complaining that that time it also did not give suitable aid for the quake victims.

He maintained that 80, 000 people were killed due to 2005 earthquake but 16, 00 people have been killed due to the floods in Pakistan adding now the flood has wreaked havoc on a very large scale as the roads and bridges have been destroyed and countless villages have been submerged under water while the wheat stock has completely been destroyed.

Nawaz expressed fear that the death toll could further increase.

SAN DIEGO - The Navy has fired the commander of a San Diego-based ship for inappropriate behaviour considered unduly familiar toward crew members, a spokesman said Monday.

The Navy said it was investigating but would not elaborate on the allegations against Capt. David Schnell, who had been the commander of the Peleliu, a ship with 19 helicopters shuttling supplies to flood-devastated Pakistan.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Chris Servello said he cannot provide any more details about the firing because of privacy concerns. He also declined to say how many crew members were involved.

Servello said Schnell had left the ship and was in the Middle East and would be travelling back to San Diego, where he would work in a Naval office doing administrative work.

Schnell could not be reached for comment. The Navy said it doesn't provide the media with emails or telephone numbers for service members.

Schnell was replaced by Capt. Mark E. Cedrun, who will continue the ship's Pakistan mission.

Pakistan’s flagship carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) says it has been overwhelmed with the number of inquiries it has been receiving to carry flood relief cargo to Pakistan.
“We have already flown in a first consignment of 850kg while another 9 tonne (9,000kg) is being accommodated,” PIA country manager Qatar Jan Mohamed Mahar said yesterday.
The airline on August 9 announced that it would carry any goods marked for donation to Pakistan from Qatar for free, following which it has been swamped with inquiries by interested individuals and groups, officials said.
The first consignment was sent through PIA’s flight PK288 on August 14 to Islamabad.
The floods have affected 20mn people, killed up to 1,600 and left 2mn homeless.
“The 9 tonne belongs to the Qatar Red Crescent, and it will be sent on Wednesday. In the past couple of days we have received many well-wishers walking in or calling in, including private companies, nationals from Turkey, India,” Mahar said.
According to him, due to space constraints the airline was first instructed by the government to prioritise donated cargo, but has now requested it to offload revenue-cargo and send the relief goods first.
“This applies across our network. We have been overwhelmed with the fact that people from as far as Toronto and Singapore to Saudi Arabia and Barcelona have been expressing their intent to dispatch relief goods via PIA,” Mahar said.
According to him, shipment of goods such as medicines, dry/canned food, milk, tents, clothing will be accepted free of cost on PIA network, while other charges such as agent handling and customs will be borne by the shipper.
“All cargo will be booked in the name of a registered NGO or a government agency like the National Disaster Management Authority (ndma.gov.pk),” Mahar said.
“PIA performed free airlifting of relief goods for victims of Swat exodus last year, while recently it’s volunteers helped in the rescue efforts of a plane crash of a private company in Islamabad,” Mahar noted.
The crash of AirBlue flight ED202 on July 28, in the hilly areas of Islamabad resulted in the loss of 152 lives, including pilot and the crew.
“Immediately after the accident PIA volunteers were sent to the crash site and helped in the rescue efforts to put down the fire and recover the bodies. PIA’s station team at Karachi and Islamabad airports helped the families of the passengers of the AirBlue Flight,” the official noted.