• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pakistan Daily Says International Quake Aid Insufficient

Posted on: Friday, 28 October 2005, 12:00 CDT

Text of report editorial entitled: "Far from sufficient"; published by Pakistani newspaper The News website on 28 October

According to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Pakistan is very encouraged by Wednesday's [26 October] emergency meeting in Geneva for earthquake assistance and "eternally grateful" for the aid it has received since the 8 October disaster. "We are very encouraged" by the meeting, he told reporters after attending a conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Moscow. But his effusiveness would seem to be more an effort to encourage the donors to cough up more money, rather than an expression of reality.

Mr Aziz was speaking two days after President Musharraf said in his interview with The Financial Times that the amount for relief and rehabilitation of the victims of the disaster would exceed 5bn dollars. And the money pledged by the donor governments is little more than ten per cent of 5bn dollars - 580m dollars, to be exact. This is extremely insufficient for the "major human tragedy we are dealing with", to quote the prime minister again.

Of the total amount, the major chunks are 50m euros from the European Union, an extra 50m dollars from the United States and the 25m dollar special fund India announced it was setting up for Pakistan. China's donation is a modest 500,000 dollars for tents, blankets and heating equipment, but it's prepared to give the amount as early as next week. That should be helpful, with the Himalayan winter about to start in the affected areas: only part of the 580m dollars is earmarked for emergency relief, which includes food and medicine, as well as tents, with the rest intended for reconstruction efforts.

At least the EU and the United States could have come forward with far greater amounts than their 50m euros and 50m dollars. If it's donor fatigue, it has set in rather early, because Wednesday was just 18 days after the tragedy. The earthquake killed at least 50,000 in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, and twice as many could die, particularly the innumerable injured victims, if they do not receive assistance in time, and in sufficient quantity. And it cannot be sufficient unless the richer donors decide to be more generous than they have been.

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

More News in this Category