Islamabad, August 13: Leading charities have attacked the international response to the worst natural disaster in Pakistan’s history, saying delays in funding the relief effort had affected aid operations.
With 1,600 people dead after two weeks of flooding and nearly 14 million people affected, 6 million of them children at risk of malnutrition, pneumonia and diarrhoea, the UN warned that many more could die unless nations step up their relief contributions.
The floods, triggered by monsoon downpours, have swamped Pakistan’s Indus river basin, forcing two million from their homes and directly disrupting the livelihoods of 8 per cent of the population.
Analysis of previous emergency aid appeals has showed that contributions from governments and international donors are well down compared to other major disasters. International donors committed $45m (£29m) – amounting to $3.20 per person affected – to tackling the crisis in the first 10 days, compared to $742m ($495 per person) after the Haiti earthquake, according to an examination of UN figures by Oxfam.
–Agencies