Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

[ejaz007]

OIC emergency meeting for Pak floods today

ISLAMABAD: Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) General Secretary Prof Akmaluddin Ahsan Oglo has called an emergency meeting of the conference to review the flood situation in Pakistan.

According to the Pakistani consul general in Jeddah, Abdul Saalik Khan, the proposed meeting will be held at its headquarters today (Wednesday), a private news channel reported.

The representatives of many Islamic countries, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, Senegal, Sudan, Jordan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates will attend the meeting.

All OIC member countries will be urged to play their role in relief and rehabilitation of flood victims. app

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[ejaz007]

Pakistan needs $15bn Marshall Plan for reconstruction

* Pak High Commissioner to UK says reconstruction will take five years

* Envoy to UN dismisses concerns that corruption, Taliban influence could divert aid

LONDON/GENEVA: The cost of rebuilding in the flood-hit areas could reach $15 billion and a Marshall Plan will be needed to meet the challenge, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan said on Monday.

He said this was a rough estimate because an assessment of the extent of the damage caused by the floods – which have affected 20 million people – had yet to be carried out. But the number gave an indication of the scale of the reconstruction needed after the floods swept away roads, bridges, telecommunication infrastructure and destroyed crops.

“It will take at least five years,” Hasan told Reuters in an interview. Asked about the cost of rebuilding, he said, “I think more than $10 to $15 billion”. Pakistan is appealing for international aid to help it cope with one of the worst natural disasters in its history. The United Nations says only a quarter of the estimated $459 million in international aid needed just for immediate relief has arrived so far.

“If something happens to Pakistan, the whole region will be plunged into Balkanisation. You can’t stop it there,” Hasan warned, adding, that he was not suggesting Pakistan would collapse, but nonetheless drew a parallel with a cyclone, which hit East Pakistan in 1970, which fuelled resentment against the government, then, as now, it was accused of not doing enough. “In the longer term, when the water subsides, we need reconstruction ... we’ll have to have a long-term plan, something like the Marshall Plan,” Hasan said.

UN envoy: Talking to journalists on Tuesday, Pakistan’s UN envoy in Geneva Zamir Akram said that reconstruction in the north of the country alone could cost $2.5 billion. Pakistan hopes for “a greater international commitment” during a special session of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Akram said, dismissing concerns that aid money could be diverted by corruption or Taliban influence as exaggerated. agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[ejaz007]

Angelina urges aid for flood-hit Pakistan

LONDON: Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has urged the international community to help flood victims in Pakistan and not surrender to compassion fatigue. “We really have to urgently get in there and try and do what we can,” Jolie, speaking at the London premiere of her movie ‘Salt’, said. “I’m talking to Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the UN and people on the ground about how we can spend our money,” she said. Jolie is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. agencies

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Solomon2]

once the aid reaches Pakistan, then dont worry how it is used...there is a lot of pressure on all stakeholders (i.e. every man, woman and child in Pakistan) to ensure that our affected comrades are rehabilitated

some small unpatriotic people here and there might mint some money, but none of your concern

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I suppose too many donors have felt shamed too many times to want to listen to such palaver any more.

 

[Solomon2]

Oddly enough, a "Marshall Plan" is an apt comparison and a good inspiration. That's because the Plan was less about economic development - which requires capital plus skill plus site selection and city planning - than about reconstruction. Reconstruction is a lot easier, generally requiring only capital and capital equipment, and thus can usually be planned and directed by the recipients - if they are of a mind to do their job rather than steal the cash, that is. So it was that after WWII France, Britain, Germany, and The Netherlands all rebuilt more quickly than Mafia-plagued Italy. (Britain, admittedly, was plagued by excessive post-war socialism for a decade after WWII.)

 

[mshoaib61]

 

[mshoaib61]

 

[fawwaxs]

Pakistan Floods: Disease the next big killer

 

[GentlemanObserver]

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I suppose too many donors have felt shamed too many times to want to listen to such palaver any more.

palaver


Nothing fruitful to add i see... Nevermind, despite what some may say the entire international community is determined to help Pakistan, it will take a lot of time but the aid is coming in:

Facts speak louder that oral farts from a bunch of insecure halfwits!

 

[muse]

We have said before that if there is any one or any institution at fault it is the Pakistan government led by the the PPP (we cannot characterize the PPP as traitorous and rapacious because it upsets those who imagine it should be judged by it's words and not deeds -

But look at how DAWN newspaper softsells the culpablity of the PPP in a first not preventing and then agravating this disaster - poopr Mr Gilani and PPP, butter does not melt in their mouths, meanwhile free monies from foreigners, the govt says, will be most welcome (daddy needs another chateau in France, or in the UK, US would fine as well ) :

Gilani taken in by another ‘relief camp’
By Iftikhar A. Khan and Mohammad Irfan Mughal
Wednesday, 18 Aug, 2010

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The embarrassment faced by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani after a recent visit to a flood-hit area over reports about ‘fake medical camps’ set up for his ‘photo sessions’ was clearly not enough to deter those who choreograph such events.

During his visit to Dera Ismail Khan on Tuesday, it once again transpired that desperate and hungry flood-affected people had been brought there at the last moment to a hurriedly established relief camp surrounded by a few new ones, unused tents given to some individuals on the same day to put up a perfect picture in Shorkot area near the airport.

The camp was set up hours before the prime minister’s visit. Hundreds of people had to wait for a long time in searing heat to get their share from a truck loaded with flour parked right in front of them on the other side of the road.

The prime minister visited the camp for a few minutes, asked an old man a few questions about the estimated cost of construction of a two-room house and left without distributing any cheque or announcing any package for the affected people.

The camp, as expected, was wound up soon after the departure of the prime minister. People at the camp confirmed that it had been set up early in the morning and they were told that they would get some help from the prime minister if they went there. They said they waited for hours to get some goods.

Mohammad Shafi, an old man, said he was living in the open in a miserable condition near his destroyed house, like many others. “At times there is no food and we starve.” Other people said there was an urgent need for 4,000 to 5,000 tents, but only about 100 people had been able to get these.

Some unidentified men were seen speaking in whispers to people who were talking to reporters in an apparent attempt to prevent them from revealing ‘secrets’.

Khursheed Bibi, a widow, got the much-needed tent late on Monday night after struggling for some 20 days. She has three children. The prime minister’s announced visit enabled her to get the tent and later officials also distributed tents among some other people.

A close relative of the woman alleged that tents were being given only to people favoured by influential people, adding that some of them got more than one tent.

Adam Sher, who has eight daughters and a son, said he had not received any tent. He said his house had been destroyed and he was living in the open with his family.

A number of other people said the situation was getting worse for them with each passing day. There are certain areas where thousands of people are still stranded.

BRIEFING

Earlier, Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Shakeel Qadir Khan briefed the prime minister and ministers accompanying him on the flood situation.

Reporters were not allowed to cover the event. Local journalists held a demonstration in the parking area of the airport in protest against the ban and the fake relief camp.

The PDMA chief said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had received 3,462mm of rains between 28 July and Aug 3 which was several times more than the annual rainfall of 962mm. Over 1,014 people have been killed in KP. About 283 roads and 282 bridges have been destroyed or damaged.

Mr Qadir said that there was an urgent need for 75,383 tents and 31,567 tons of food. Only two per cent of the required hygiene kits, 14 per cent of blankets and 46 per cent of drinking water are available.

The prime minister said the government was alive to the situation and was taking all possible steps to provide relief to the affected people. He said he would discuss with the Ministry of Finance a uniform policy to write off agricultural loans in the flood-hit areas.

Mr Gilani said that 50,000 tents were being acquired for distribution among the affected people. He said that 1,000 tons of food from the Utility Stores Corporation would be provided to people.

RS50M CHEQUE

Prime Minister Gilani handed over a cheque for Rs50 million to KP Chief Minister Ameer Haidar Khan Hoti. He said that despite its meagre resources the federal government would extend all possible assistance to the provincial government for rehabilitation of the affected people.

The prime minister was accompanied by federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi.

 

[GentlemanObserver]

What the chad... I mean seriously! First Mianwali then DI Khan, which is not far from Mianwali... :

I can bet you this is they ploy of some local former nazim's i don't want to name, names but i can hazard a guess or two... Disgusting!

 

[fawwaxs]

Child Flood Victims

 

[fawwaxs]

 

[ejaz007]

A boy hangs on to the front of a cargo truck while passing through a flooded road in Risalpur, located in Nowshera District in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province July 30, 2010. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)

Men take refuge on a boat during heavy rain in Pakistan's Nowshera District on July 29, 2010. (REUTERS/K. Parvez)

 

[ejaz007]

Residents watch water pour through a street on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan on July 28, 2010. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani villagers move to high ground escaping a flood-hit village near Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)