Pak floods appeal raises $227m; EU boosts aid to 70m euros
August 19, 2010
Funding for the UN aid appeal to help victims of Pakistan’s devastating floods has reached 227.8 million dollars or 50 percent of the total target sum, the United Nations said Wednesday.
“We have received 227.8 million dollars (177 million euros), or 50 percent of the appeal,” said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“It’s good news but we need to continue the rhythm of the last few days and not lower our guard because millions of people are desperately expecting help,” she said, adding that aid agencies needed to redouble their efforts as the “situation remains dramatic.”
On Monday, the world body had collected just 20 percent of the 460 million dollars targeted to help millions of Pakistanis affected by the floods.
EU DOUBLES AID
The European Union nearly doubled its aid to flood-stricken Pakistan to 70 million euros on Wednesday and announced a trip by its top aid official after calls for Brussels to do more to help.
European humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva announced that she would travel to the affected areas of Pakistan on Monday to meet with authorities, relief experts and victims of the floods.
“We are facing a humanitarian disaster in Pakistan of massive proportions,” Georgieva told a news conference, adding that the need for international assistance was “massive.”
The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said it would provide an extra 30 million euros in emergency relief assistance to Pakistan after already giving 40 million euros in aid.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Sunday also saying that the EU executive should “do more.”
Barroso responded in his own letter to Sarkozy that his services were “the first to react” to the disaster in Pakistan.
‘WILL NOT FALL TO EXTREMISTS’
Pakistan has sought to reassure international donors that funds to help victims of its devastating flooding will not fall into extremists’ hands.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the BBC the Taliban would not be allowed to take advantage of the crisis to increase its support.
The UN has said it has now raised nearly half of the $460m (£294m) it needs for initial relief efforts.
Meanwhile new flood warnings have been issued in some areas of Pakistan.
The authorities say as many as 20 million people are affected by the floods. The UN says six million desperately need emergency aid but most still have not received it. Ten of thousands of villages remain under water.
There are growing health concerns for those surviving without proper shelter, food or clean drinking water, three weeks after the country’s worst natural disaster in modern times began.
Survivors have criticised the government’s response to the disaster, saying aid has been too slow to arrive and there are increasing reports of victims staging protests to demand help from the government.
Malik said he was satisfied that the government had coped with the initial response but that it had been overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis.
Source: thedailystar.net
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