Why the World must help Pakistan

The colossal disaster is getting worse - PLEASE DONATE to Non-Governemental and non-extremist organisations

26 August 2010

Why the world must help PakistanMany Poeple express a reluctance to donate

- for fear that money will not reach the people in need but will instead end up with terrorists or corrupt officials. - Because they are thousands of miles away. - Because they look different; speak a different language than we do, practice a different religion. - Because they don’t know really Pakistan, it’s Traditions and Culture, and we are often afraid of what de don’t know- Because it’s World crisis and they have maybe less money to give- Because there's too much tragedy, and it's happening too fast, and these days people are distracted and confused and worried about serious problems close to home, like our own jobs etc..

The humanity of Pakistan's victims takes a backseat to the preconceived image that Westerners have of Pakistan as a country. But you need to know that all indicators are pointing toward an enormous, long-term human tragedy unfolding in Pakistan, and we need to do something about it

we should care because they are our brothers and sisters in humanity.

Here, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, Daniel Toole, who has just returned from Pakistan, responds.  

-- From the sky, the massive inland sea of water stretches beyond the horizon -- flashbacks from a different disaster with a puzzlingly different response to the same desperation. A watery landscape punctuated by the tops of trees, electricity poles going nowhere in the water and small patches of land with marooned families huddled together with the scraps they still hold as they fled the floodwaters tearing through their country. One fifth of Pakistan is under water. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning and heard that the whole of England or the state of Florida were completely submerged? Crops, markets, roads, schools, communities and houses generations toiled to build up submerged in water and many, simply washed away. After decades of working in emergencies around the world, never before have I seen such astonishing devastation. The only thing that comes close in recent times is the tsunami, with many times more deaths, but similar destruction.  The public debate that surged in the early days of the Asian tsunami started off on a similar pattern -- would it be possible to overcome the tremendous challenges? Would money be well spent or perhaps used by the wrong people? With so many different governments involved, could governments, the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies ensure those in need would be reached? But the compelling television images swiftly triggered an extraordinary outpouring of human support with vast quantities of money and human resources. Too much in fact, and UNICEF went public and stopped taking funds. Today, right across the tsunami-affected region, there is shining testimony -- from environmentally-friendly sewerage plants to child-friendly schools -- of how national governments and humanitarian agencies "built back better." The same can be done in Pakistan -- given half the chance -- but the response has been woefully inadequate.  These flood waters are not going away anytime soon -- the threat remains high, outstripping relief efforts. The government estimates that some 20 million Pakistanis have been affected in one way or another by the floods, more than eight million of them children under the age of 18. Nearly four million young children are the most vulnerable, at risk of contracting deadly waterborne diseases like dysentery, diarrhea and cholera on top of endemic diseases like measles and polio. I visited a health post in Sindh Province where the number of cases of acute diarrhea was already four times pre-flood levels; and children die quickly of diarrhea and its deadly partner, dehydration. This is no time to wait. On the ground, I talked to many mothers. One with five children managing with nothing at all in the intense heat and flies -- more than 40 C (104 F.) Sweat dripped down my face, my body. She fled the floods with her children, carrying no food, only the clothes she was wearing. There are hundreds of thousands -- no millions -- like her. She has diarrhea and her children too are ill despite being at a safe camp where cooked food and clean water are provided. Her two-sided tent offers paltry protection. How will she survive this heat, what on earth will they do when it rains again? At last count, five million Pakistanis are like her -- left homeless by the floods. Hundreds of thousands already face malnutrition, exposure, skin infections and respiratory illnesses. The threat of epidemics increases day by day. With the slightest promise of receding waters the natural pull to return home is overwhelming. But for many it won't help -- no clean drinking water, no food stores, no animals, that's it -- emptiness and loss.

Camp life is life on hold. There have to be better ways of helping people when they're home. Because UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies already had teams on the ground, we were able to release emergency funds and start providing clean water, immunizations, medicines, health care and emergency food and non-food assistance from the very onset of the crisis.  

We are seeing a steady trickle of funds now and we and our partners are currently providing clean water to nearly two million people daily and nearly 800,000 thousand children have been immunized against deadly diseases. And it's not enough. Hundreds of thousands of people remain cut off from relief supplies. There are shortages of doctors, health workers, 40 helicopters are needed -- almost everything. Even buying soap or buckets for this many is difficult -- the need is so great.Reputable organizations like UNICEF, World Food Programme, Save the Children, and the International Red Cross / Red Crescent have a long and proud track record of reaching and helping those in need. Impartiality, transparency and targeting those in greatest need first are at the heart of the work we do in any situation, and especially in emergencies. There is a profound dignity in the way Pakistanis reach out to each other. This is Ramadan and they do not take even a sip of water from dawn until dusk. I saw this in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake -- aid workers, leading relief efforts, working nearly round the clock to distribute vital food, clean water, medicines, and tents to the millions of displaced; neighbors, (deep in Pakistani tradition is the obligation to help your "biraderi" or members of the same clan,) sharing whatever they have with others that have been uprooted; helicopter pilots flying rescue missions and healthcare workers who spend their days treating the young, the frail, the elderly and the dispossessed, sharing whatever food is available in the evening on rare dry patches of land, miles from home. For now this is how they share and show their common humanity. This enduring spirit of human generosity is what the world has shown again and again -- mostly recently in the Haiti earthquake even during a recession.  This time though the world has been inexplicably slow, inexplicably distracted. Could it be because there's an expectation this one country -- a nuclear power -- should be able to care for its own? But this enormous disaster is beyond the power of any one government and disasters know no boundaries, respect no passports. This is beyond even the people -- the implications of this disaster run into the future. The geography of this region, spread out in vast plains under the rooftop of the world, the Himalayas, is like the politics of this region -- unstable. This fragile fault line can shatter easily from lack of care, lack of solidarity. So, as ordinary Pakistanis have helped each other on the ground, we too as members of the same "biraderi", the same human clan, need to rise to their moment and respond to their needs. We must do that today. Too many Pakistanis are still waiting.  source article : http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/08/25/pakistan.floods.unicef/index.htm

THEY NEED OUR HELP : PLEASE DONATE 

A Pakistani woman holds her baby as she stands at her makeshift shelter overlooking a temporary camp for families displaced by flooding, in Sukkar, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer) 

A Pakistani boy sleeps in a mosquito net on a roadside after his family was displaced by flooding, in Sukkar, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

A Pakistani child washes under a water pump at a temporary camp for families displaced by flooding, in Sukkar, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistani girls affected by the floods wait for their daily ration of food at an army relief camp in Sultan Colony in Muzaffargarh distric of Punjab on August 25, 2010. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned his beleaguered nation could take years to recover from devastating floods as global pledges topped 700 million dollars and waters refused to relent. The near month-long floods have killed 1,500 people and affected up to 20 million nationwide in the country's worst ever natural disaster, with the threat of disease ever present in the camps sheltering desperate survivors. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/ PEDRO UGARTE (Photo credit should read PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images)

A malnourished Pakistani boy whose family was displaced by floods sits on a piece of cardboard on the ground outside at a temporary camp in Sukkar, Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistani workers pile rocks along the embankment surrounded by heavy floodwater in Shadadkot,, southern Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Pakistan will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding after its massive floods, the U.S. aid chief said, as officials in the northwest vowed Wednesday to stop banned Islamist groups from helping victims. (AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistanis displaced by floods reach out for milk during an aid distribution at a temporary camp in Sukkar, Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistani children displaced by floods fight with each other as they reach for milk during an aid distribution at a temporary camp in Sukkar, Sindh Province, southern Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistani's ride on the roof of a truck crossing a flooded highway in Baseera, central Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Pakistan will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding after its massive floods, the U.S. aid chief said, as the United Nations appealed urgently for more helicopters to ferry aid to around 800,000 stranded people. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

A Pakistani villager sleeps on an embankment surrounding by floodwater in Sarjani near Thatta, in southern Pakistan on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Pakistan will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding after its massive floods, the U.S. aid chief said, as officials in the northwest vowed Wednesday to stop banned Islamist groups from helping victims. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Pakistani villagers flee from their area due to heavy flooding in Khanpur village near Hyderabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Pakistan will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding after its massive floods, the U.S. aid chief said, as the United Nations appealed urgently for more helicopters to ferry aid to around 800,000 stranded people. (AP Photo/Pervez Masih)

A Pakistani girl suffering from mosquito bites looks on at a camp set up for flood-affected people in Nowshera, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Pakistan will have to demonstrate it can spend relief funds transparently and well if it wants more help in rebuilding after its massive floods, the U.S. aid chief said, as the United Nations appealed urgently for more helicopters to ferry aid to around 800,000 stranded people. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

A Pakistani boy looks on at a camp setup for families displaced by flooding in Peerjo Goth near Sukkar, Pakistan on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. Pakistani officials urged anyone left in three southern towns Thursday to evacuate immediately as floodwaters broke through a levee, endangering areas previously untouched by the country's almost monthlong disaster.(AP Photo/Shakil Adil)

Pakistanis displaced by flooding sit outside tents at a temporary camp operated by the Pakistan Army, in Sukkar, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistanis displaced by flooding reach for food aid thrown by a volunteer during a distribution outside a temporary camp operated by the Pakistan Army, in Sukkar, Sindh province, southern Pakistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2010. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Pakistanis displaced by floods take shelter in temporary tents made with charpoys (bedsteads) near a makeshift camp in Baseera in Punjab province on August 26, 2010. The United Nations warned that 800,000 people in desperate need of aid had been cut off by the deluge across the country and appealed for more helicopters to deliver supplies to those people reachable only by air. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/ ARIF ALI (Photo credit should read Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

An elderly Pakistani woman displaced by floods sits outside her tent at a makeshift camp in Mehmood Kot in Punjab province on August 26, 2010. The United Nations warned that 800,000 people in desperate need of aid had been cut off by the deluge across the country and appealed for more helicopters to deliver supplies to those people reachable only by air. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO/ARIF ALI (Photo credit should read Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistani villagers move into safe place from a flood-hit village near Nowshera , Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Rivers burst their banks during monsoon rains, washing away streets, battering a dam and killing at least 60 people in most severe floods in decades in northwest Pakistan, officials said Thursday. AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Pakistani local residents scramble to safety in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 29, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / A. Majeed

Pakistani villagers wade through water after heavy rain fall caused flooding in Nowshera near Peshawar, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. Pakistani villagers move into safe place from a flood hit village near Nowshera . Rivers burst their banks during monsoon rains, washing away streets, battering a dam and killing at least 60 people, official said. AP / B.K.Bangash

A Pakistani resident carries some of his belongings as he leaves behind his damaged mud house in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 29, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / A. Majeed

Pakistani local residents evacuate in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 29, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / A. Majeed

Pakistani army soldiers use a boat to evacuate local residents in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 29, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / A. Majeed

Pakistani local residents scramble to safety in a flood-hit area of Nowshera on July 29, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / A. Majeed 

Pakistani women wait for transport to move to a safe place from a flood hit village near Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010.AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Pakistani army soldiers help an elderly villager evacuated from flooded area in Nowshera, Pakistan on Friday, July 30, 2010. AP / Mohammad Sajjad

Pakistani villagers move to a safe place from a flood hit village near Nowshera, Pakistan on Thursday, July 29, 2010. AP / Mohammad Sajjad Read

An elderly Pakistani woman sits with two children in a tent after they were evacuated when flood water entered a residential area of Muzaffarabad on July 30, 2010. AFP/ Getty Images / Sajjad Qayyum Read

A list of humanitarian organisations that are accepting cash donations for flood response efforts in Pakistan can be found athttp://www.interaction.org/crisis-list/interaction-members-respond-floods-pakistan

You can also contribute to flood relief in Pakistan through one of these organizations (listed in alphabetical order):APPNACentral Asia InstituteThe Citizens FoundationDevelopments in LiteracyDoctors of The WorldEdhi FoundationHuman Development FoundationHumanity FirstIMANAIslamic Relief USAMedecins sans FrontiereRelief InternationalRed Cross PakistanSHINE HumanityUNICEF 

THEY NEED OUR HELP : PLEASE DONATE

Some of your priotities can wait one month – These kids maybe will not be there

anymore in one month – make them your priorities – DONATE

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