The following summary is from our Earth Gate Weekly News: Earthweek – A Diary of the Planet, Week Ending Fri, 20 August 2010:
Pakistan Flood Disaster Gets Slow Relief Response
The unprecedented flooding submerging almost a third of Pakistan has become one of the worst natural disasters of our time. The U.N. estimates that as many as 20 million people have lost their homes due to the inundation. A large number of those victims still have not received any relief assistance from their government or international aid agencies.
The U.N. warns that the Pakistan floods have affected far more people than the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and this year’s devastating quake in Haiti. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has described Pakistan’s unimaginable flooding as the worst disaster he has ever seen. Emerging waterborne disease across the flood zone could result in more fatalities than from all those other disasters combined.
“I just don’t think the world has realized the magnitude of this now, because … it doesn’t have the drama of an earthquake that impacts a huge number of people all at once,” said USAID’s regional adviser for South Asia Bill Berger. The U.N. asked for nearly $460 million, but says it has so far only received $184 million. The United States has diverted military resources in neighboring Afghanistan to help stranded residents, including 19 helicopters being used to airlift supplies.
Editor’s note: Breaking news and commentary about the ongoing disaster can be found here.
