Nova Scotia sends aid to flood ravaged Pakistan

NOVA SCOTIA - Kevin Jess--The Premier of Nova Scotia, Darrell Dexter, announced Friday the province
will contribute $100,000 to the Canadian Red Cross to assist with the
humanitarian mission and reconstruction efforts in Pakistan. 

Pakistan was plagued with heavy monsoon rains which led to massive

flooding in late July. Since that time the situation has been worsened by
health risks from water borne diseases, food shortages, collapsed bridges and
roads, and a lack of shelter. 

“I am deeply saddened by the tragedy and loss in Pakistan. Nova Scotia, a
province renowned for the generosity and kindness of its people, is part of the
international community reaching out to help those struck by such a deadly
natural disaster,” said Mr. Dexter in a press release. 

The Nova Scotia government is also encouraging residents, businesses and
unions to do their part in supporting relief organizations that are attempting
to help the stricken country. 

According to the United Nations, approximately 14 million people have
been affected by the flooding. More that six million of those affected are in
need of emergency assistance.

The Canadian government has made a commitment, through the recently
established Pakistan Floods Relief Fund, to match all individual donations for
assistance to the Pakistan relief efforts made to registered Canadian charities
between August and September 12.

For more information concerning relief efforts or to donate, contact the Canadian Red Cross or the Canadian International Development Agency
(CIDA).

Pakistan pleads for aid from world community

NEW YORK -UN - GHN - At
a press conference August 6, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator asked for
international assistance for his country, Pakistan,  to help 4 million
people affected by the worst flooding in 80 years.

“It’s very urgent

that this gets released,” Martin Mogwanja said, explaining how
additional funds would pay for emergency food, health care, clean water,
sanitation and shelter over 90 days, as well as community restoration,
agricultural protection and logistical support for damaged transport
infrastructure.

The situation has created desperate circumstances for the people of Pakistan, Mogwanja explained.

The UN
Secretary-General has already authorized $10 million from the Central
Emergency Response Fund (CERF) for Pakistan, Mr. Mogwanja said.  But
that money, plus the $9.8 million received by the Organization’s local
emergency relief fund and the $16 million given to its agencies on the
ground, was not enough to mitigate the crisis spanning four of the
country’s largest provinces.

United Nations contingency funds are already running out, he explained.

Mogwanja told
UN officials the deadly floods, triggered by monsoon rains, had spread
throughout much of Pakistan, destroying or badly damaging 250,000 homes
and rendering 1.5 million people homeless.

More flooding is expected.

An estimated
1,400 people are dead, but that figure could rise as new bodies are
found.  The disaster is considered to be “on a par” with the 2005
Kashmir earthquake in terms of the number of people needing assistance
and damage to infrastructure.

The on-the-ground
response effort, led by the Pakistani Government’s National Disaster
Management Authority, had already evacuated by boat or helicopter more
than 50,000 people trapped on rooftops, in buildings and on small
islands, he said.  The United Nations had dispatched assessment response
teams in the affected south-west provinces.

“At this stage,
urgent relief is required for the hundreds of thousands of people who
are displaced and are taking shelter in school classrooms and any kind
of Government building which is available,” Mr. Mogwanja said.

People are running out of basic supplies.

Mogwanja
reiterated the desperate need of his country by saying, "The top
priority  to provide shelter and non-food items that include cooking
sets, buckets, blankets and hygiene kits as well as food, clean water,
sanitation and good health care in case of an outbreak of waterborne
diseases."

Asked why he
believed 4 million people had been affected when others had put the
figure at 12 million, Mr. Mogwanja said his estimates were based on data
from Pakistan’s provincial disaster management authorities.  The number
could rise if floods moving south along the Indus River caused more
embankments to break in southern Sindh province.

Mogwanja gave the
details of what Pakistan presently faces during the terrible flooding.
$150 million to $200 million for relief and recovery efforts would
likely be needed in the coming weeks and months, and possibly more if
the impact of flooding was severe in south Sindh.  The cost of repairing
damaged infrastructure, particularly vital irrigation systems for rural
farmers, could reach $1 billion.

In Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province alone, 80 per cent of the water systems were now
polluted with silt and other runoff, Mr. Mogwanja said.

Aid from
international organizations has only reached an estimated 30 to 40 per
cent of the population; many people had yet to receive adequate food,
clean water and shelter.  154,000 villagers were isolated when 66
bridges were destroyed.

 Relief agencies have been using helicopters to distribute food.

Water-logged terrain has prevented people from burying the dead.

On the number of
missing persons, he said there was no reliable estimate, because not all
affected areas had been accessed and many families had been separated,
making it difficult to know who was alive.  Relief workers were trying
to find the parents of young children separated from their families.

Asked when
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari would return to the country, Mr.
Mogwanja said he did not know.  He also declined to comment on the
President’s absence.

Humanitarian crisis: 3 million Pakistanis devastated by flooding

[caption id="attachment_9010" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Children in floods in Pakistan"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - The numbers are staggering of dead, homeless or injured during catastrophes in the past eight months and  raise concerns that people become so numb by the overwhelming nature of the problems they don't know how to act or won't act.

Todays reports are that 3 million Pakistans are devastated by the biggest floods in 100 years.

Some worry that people become disaster numb, that the overwhelming numbers of suffering people heard again and again make people feel powerless, impotent and eventually numb emotionally. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies debuted a play called Times Stands Still  on Broadway that looks at some ov these issues, how people struggle with their consciences and wonder about their feelings as well.  Journalists are tempted to help during emergencies.  But Margulies worries that the impact of these tragedies brings a type of numbness in response as well.

In referring to Haiti, Margulies maintains, "there is compassion fatigue in our society, and that's part of what I touch on in the play. And I think it's understandable—with mass media and the instantaneous nature of it, the pervasive nature of it all, there's no escape. It almost has a numbing effect on people. What's happening with Haiti now is that the coverage was so instantaneous and so enormous that I suspect that the numbness is beginning to take hold. As with any internationally focused catastrophe, there's only so much that people can bear.

Margulies also worries about the impact on the journalists, the sense of frustration that is felt when they believe what they report is somehow not accepted, not read, and not appreciated for the seriousness of the tragedies.

While the public may become weary of coverage, journalists believe there are elements of tragedies that don't get enough coverage.  That's what Margulies says he intends by his play.

What Marguilies tells us is that involvement of a celebrity can keep the concern going on, more so than videographers, photographers and journalists.  It is that celebrity he believes people respond to during these tragic events.

People can begin to identify with these massive problems when they feel they are part of a movement led by a famous person.  That's why organizations involve famous people like a George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, or Susan Sarandon to keep the attention on a major issue.

News reports tell us 3 million people are impacted by floods in Pakistan.

What celebrity will become identified with it or is there a saturation point this year?  With the release of classified documents said to reveal the Pakistanis not entirely in support of the United States war with the terrorists in Afghanistan will that figure into any response that is made?

3 million people in Pakistan is a large number of people to consider don't have homes, proper drinking water or the necessities of life.

Given how celebrities have stepped in and helped call attention to tragedies this large, and what Margulies has said, who will step forward to help?