U.N. chief says Pakistan flooding is epic, urges aid for victims

UN chief: Never seen anything like Pakistan floods

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls the devastation the worst he has ever seen. The country’s prime minister says as many as 20 million are homeless.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he has never seen anything like the flood disaster in Pakistan, and urged foreign donors to speed up assistance to the 20 million people affected.

Ban’s comments after surveying the devastation over the weekend reflect the concern of the international community about the unfolding disaster in Pakistan, which is battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants, has a weak and unpopular government, and an anemic economy propped up by international assistance.

“This has been a heart-wrenching day for me,” Ban said Sunday after flying over the hard-hit areas with President Asif Ali Zardari. “I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this.”

Ban visited Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country in May 2008, killing an estimated 138,000 people. He also flew to China’s Sichuan province just days after an earthquake killed nearly 90,000 people in March 2008.

The floods that began more than two weeks ago in Pakistan’s mountainous northwest have now hit about one-quarter of the country, especially its agricultural heartland. While the death toll of 1,500 is relatively small, the scale of the flooding and number of people whose lives have been disrupted is staggering.

The world body has appealed for an initial $460 million to provide relief, but only 20 percent has been given.

Once the floods recede, billions more will be needed for reconstruction and getting people back to work in the already-poor nation of 170 million people. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the floods could dent economic growth and fuel inflation.

“Waves of flood must be met with waves of support from the world,” said Ban. “I’m here to urge the world to step up assistance,” he said.

Zardari has been criticized for his response to the disaster, especially for going ahead with a state visit to Europe just as the crisis was unfolding. Zardari has visited victims twice since returning, but images of him at a family owned chateau while in France are likely to hurt him for months to come.

In his first comments to the media since returning, he defended the government.

“The government has responded very responsibly,” he said, saying the army, the police, the navy and officials were all working to relieve the suffering. “I would appeal to the press to understand the magnitude of the disaster.”

Zardari said it would take up to two years for the country to recover.

Ban said visa restrictions had been eased for humanitarian workers and they now could get visas on arrival at Pakistan airports.

On Saturday, the prime minister said 20 million people had been made homeless in the disaster.

The monsoon rains that triggered the disaster are forecast to fall for several weeks yet, meaning the worst may not yet be over. Over the weekend, tens of thousand of people were forced to flee their homes when they were inundated by fresh floods from the swollen River Indus.

While local charities and international agencies have helped hundreds of thousands of people with food, water, shelter and medical treatment, the scale of the disaster has meant that many millions have received little or no assistance. The U.N. has voiced fears that disease in overcrowded and unsanitary relief camps may yet cause more deaths.

Earlier Sunday, survivors fought over food being handed out from a relief vehicle close to the town of Sukkur in hard-hit Sindh province, ripping at each others’ clothes and causing such chaos that the distribution had to be abandoned, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

“The impatience of the people has deprived us of the little food that had come,” said Shaukat Ali, a flood victim waiting for food.

Waters five feet (1.5 meters) deep washed through Derra Allah Yar, a city of 300,000 people on the border of Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, said government official Salim Khoso. About 200,000 had fled the city and Khoso said he did not know how they would be fed.

“We are here like beggars,” said Mukhtar Ali, a 45-year-old accountant living on the side of a highway along with thousands of other people. “The last food we received was a small packet of rice yesterday and 15 of us shared that.”

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\\Related: LOS ANGELES TIMES

Pakistan flood toll rises but international aid fails to flow

Donations far lower than past crises, warns Oxfam, with India offering no relief at all to historical enemy

The international response to Pakistan‘s flood emergency has been sluggish and ungenerous compared with relief efforts after previous disasters, a leading aid agency said today as the UN warned that its emergency workers were in danger of being overwhelmed by the scale of the crisis.

Oxfam said the UN’s financial tracking system showed that as of August 9, governments had committed less than $45m, with an additional $91m pledged – considerably less money than was collected for previous disaster relief efforts over a similar period. India, Pakistan’s much larger and wealthier neighbour, has not offered any aid or assistance at all.

“Within the first 10 days of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which left 3.5 million people homeless, the international community had committed $247m and pledged £45m… In the first 10 days of Cyclone Nargis, which affected 2.4 million people when it struck Myanmar [Burma], almost $110m was committed and $109m pledged,” Oxfam said. Likewise, $742m was committed to Haiti and $920m pledged after the earthquake there in January.

About 14 million people have now been affected by the flooding, and about 1,600 people killed. Both figures are expected to rise in the coming days. Pakistan’s federal flood commission estimated that 300,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged so far and 2.6m acres (105,000 sq km) of croplands submerged.

“Six million [of the 14 million affected] are children and 3 million women of child-bearing age. This is a higher figure than in the 2005 south Asia tsunami,” the UN’s humanitarian affairs co-ordination office said.

Neva Khan, Oxfam country director in Pakistan, said: “The rains are continuing and [with] each hour that passes the flooding is multiplying misery across the entire country. This is a mega disaster and it needs a mega response.”

To date, only five countries – Britain, the US, Australia, Italy and Kuwait – have committed or pledged more than $5m in new funding.

“Everyone – donors, the UN, aid agencies, the government – all of us need to shift gear on this crisis,” Khan said. “This is the biggest disaster in the world right now and we all need to get behind it.”

In a memorandum circulated todayyesterday, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, warned that its capacity and that of other UN and international agencies to respond to the crisis created by the flooding was being “tested to the limits”.

The memo said: “Our staff in Pakistan say the situation is among the most difficult they have faced … Meeting the demands of this crisis is a massive challenge.” Problems included blocked access routes, collapsed bridges, lack of dry land to erect tents, lack of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, shortages of relief supplies, and “difficult security conditions”.

The Pakistani Taliban today urged the government not to accept western aid money, and offered to fund relief efforts itself. Taliban fighters have in the past attacked international aid groups in the country, accusing them of trying to introduce “un-Islamic” values

“Pakistan should reject this aid to maintain sovereignty and independence,” a Taliban spokesman told the Associated Press.

It was confirmed today that India, Pakistan’s historical foe and close neighbour, has offered no help so far and apparently has no plans to do so. A spokeswoman for the Indian High Commission in London said: “No decision has been taken so far on providing aid or assistance.”

But while no aid was forthcoming, the Indian army today sought the help of the Pakistan military to locate the bodies of 28 Indian soldiers who were swept across the provisional border in Kashmir by a raging Himalayan river.

A spokeswoman for the Pakistani High Commission in London said she was “not surprised” by India’s stance and declined to criticise the international response: “Every country has its own priorities. A lot of other countries have offered to help.”

Abdul Basit, foreign ministry spokesman in Islamabad, said: “So far, there is no aid from India for the calamity.” He declined to comment further. A senior Pakistani official said: “We are not expecting anything (from India). It does seem a bit strange. Even just as a goodwill gesture, it would be important.”

After the earthquake that devastated Pakistan-administered Kashmir five years ago, India gave 25 tonnes of food, medicine, tents, blankets and plastic sheets. This time Delhi has confined itself to sending a letter of condolence.

Meanwhile, instead of aid, Indian newspapers have focused on how Indian commerce could benefit by exporting sugar and cotton to a stricken Pakistan.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari returned home today after a European tour to face a chorus of criticism over his government’s response to the crisis. Zardari enraged critics for going ahead with visits to London and Paris despite the emergency.

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Zardari’s Katrina

Why is Pakistan’s president junketing while his people are drowning?

This week, Pakistan’s president, Asif Ali Zardari, boarded a private Gulfstream Jet along with his family and his hundreds-large entourage to visit the European countries included on the president’s grand tour. Yesterday, Zardari — who was married to my aunt, the late Benazir Bhutto, before her 2007 murder — landed in London. As soon as the plane touched down, the president and his Very Important coterie were chauffeured in a dozen luxury vehicles to a five-star hotel where the president will be staying in a £7,000 ($11,160) per night Royal Suite.

His welcome, however, was less than royal. On the drive to the hotel, protesters held placards reading “Zardari King of Thieves,” “Zardari 100% Pure Corruption,” and “GO Zardari GO.” While Zardari was schmoozing with his cronies in luxe London hotels, Pakistan was reeling from the deadliest floods to hit the country in 80 years. In short, it looks like Zardari’s Katrina.

More than 3 million people in the northwestern region of Pakistan have now been affected by the floods. Parts of the north are facing terminal food shortages even as they are inaccessible to relief workers. The U.N. World Food Program says that 1.8 million will urgently need something to eat in coming weeks. The death toll has risen steadily in recent days to more than 1,400 people. About another million have lost their homes.

The news is also unlikely to get any better: Officials now say that the waters are expected to hit Punjab and Sindh provinces, Pakistan’s food-producing regions. New flood warnings are still being issued, and the country is bracing for further monsoon downpours.

Zardari takes a lot of overseas trips — so many that one local TV pundit estimated somewhat anecdotally last year that Richard Holbrooke, U.S. President Barack Obama’s special envoy to the “AfPak” region, had spent more time in Pakistan than Zardari had recently. But the timing of this particular visit has angered not only his subjects but also his hosts. Two prominent Asian Britons refused to meet the visiting head of state. Khalid Mahmood, a member of parliament, vigorously condemned Zardari’s decision to visit London. “A lot of people are dying,” he told the press. “He should be [in Pakistan] to try to support the people, not swanning around in the UK and France.” Lord Ahmed, a labor MP, continued that Zardari had a responsibility to be “looking after people, not [be] over here.”

Yet the protests seem to have fallen on deaf ears — which really shouldn’t surprise anyone who has watched the Zardari government in action. The floods are just the latest, most tragic example of how inept the Pakistani state truly is. The inundation was predictable; Pakistan suffers monsoon rains every year at exactly the same time. But in a country — and with a president — so endemically corrupt,  dealing with the entirely preventable, whether terrorism or natural disasters, has become impossible. There is simply no will, and more importantly no money, to spend on the Pakistani people. The country’s coffers are constantly being diverted to more pressing programs — or pockets, for that matter. Before he came to office, Zardari was facing corruption charges in Switzerland, Spain, and Britain. (As president, he withdrew Pakistan’s cooperation with the latter two countries’ courts; his presidential immunity prevented a Swiss case from re-opening.)

And thus the tragedy unfolds: There are no emergency evacuation plans for natural disasters, nor is there money for institutions that could help victims of such crises. What there is money for — almost $600,000 — are such programs as the Martyr Benazir Bhutto Income Support Scheme, a cult of personality initiative named after the president’s late wife. Those who sign up receives meager cash handouts and find themselves on the president’s ruling party’s election rolls — which themselves received more government funds than two whole federal departments of Pakistan put together.

Meanwhile, if rumors in the Pakistani press are right, Zardari’s European tour is even more cynical than it already seems. The trip is meant to kickstart the president’s young son’s political career. That launch has to take place overseas to avoid the inevitably hostile reactions such a dynastic coronation would draw back in Pakistan. Speculation has it that Zardari’s son Bilawal, a recent college graduate who is already co-chairman along with Zardari of their political party, will proclaim himself the future leader of Pakistan to a select audience in Birmingham on August 7.

Pakistan’s The News newspaper summed up popular sentiment in a laundry list of questions posed to the country’s High Commission in London. “Who is paying for the buses and coaches being booked to bring people to the Birmingham rally?” the paper asks. “Why will the president not cancel his visit?” And the most crucial question: Shouldn’t the money for the trip be better spent on the flood victims? In response, the Pakistani High Commission issued a one-line blanket response:  ”This is an official visit and procedures for official visits are being followed.”

Pakistan can ill afford a president who prioritizes his personal political future over the lives of millions of his citizens. We have always known in Pakistan that the rest of the world’s attention comes at a tremendously high cost. Yet we seem to keep paying.

View a slideshow of Pakistan’s great flood.

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France angered by Burmese delays

France’s ambassador to the UN has accused Burma’s government of being on the verge of committing a crime against humanity by not accepting foreign aid.

Jean-Maurice Ripert made the comment during a General Assembly session, after Burma’s UN ambassador accused France of sending a warship to region.

France says the ship is carrying 1,500 tonnes of food and medicine for survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

State TV has put the official death toll of the 2 May storm at 78,000.

Another 56,000 people are thought to be missing according to the latest official estimates, which nearly double the figures released on Thursday, raising fears the final human toll may be enormous.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said a natural disaster has been turned into a man-made catastrophe because of the negligence of the Burmese generals.

“The responsibility lies with the Burmese regime, and they must be held accountable,” Mr Brown told the BBC.

(Continue reading: BBC News)

Google Banned by Myanmar Govt., Still Donates $1 Million to Cyclone Relief

Despite being banned by the government of Burma (also Myanmar), Google has said that it will donate up to $1 million USD to assist victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Google has offered to match donations made to UNICEF and Direct Relief International for all donations made at Google’s Support disaster relief in Myanmar page, up to one million dollars.

Internet users in Burma reported that access to Google and Gmail had been blocked by the strict military junta governing the country in the summer of 2006. By this time, Yahoo and Hotmail had already made the censored IT blacklist.

(Continue reading: EcoWorldly)

U.S. envoy: Myanmar deaths may top 100,000

The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the senior U.S. diplomat in the military-ruled country said Wednesday.

“The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths,” said the U.S. charge d’affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa.

The U.S. figure is almost five times the 22,000 the Myanmar government has estimated.

The U.S. estimate is based on data from an international non-governmental organization, Villarosa said without naming the group. She called the situation in Myanmar “more and more horrendous.”

“I think most of the damage was caused by these 12-foot storm surges,” she said.

Villarosa also said that about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.

(Continue reading: CNN)

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