Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

[GentlemanObserver]

^^ i actually asked my uncle about this after getting it in an email.This is just not true, he informed me that there is an issue with the distribution of aid within areas like DG Khan Di Khan Multan, Mianwali, bhakkar and mankera... Following the fake camps there is higher vigilance and donor's are less relectuant to send aid to these sites.

Needless to say the facts published by the Government on aid material sent to various parts of Pakistan:
News Room

In addition today the government did the following:

KPK.
Army troops distributed 4000 Dry Ration Bags and are providing medical treatment to thousands of patients in various relief camps.
Mengora Bus Stand has been made functional by Pakistan Army Engineers.

Punjab.
Pakistan Army evacuated over 3000 people to safer places in areas around Rahim Yar Khan.
A team of 18 volunteer doctors has been positioned at Rajanpur.

Sindh.
PAF dropped 14000 kgs of dry ration in affected areas around Sukkur and evacuated 73 people.
Pakistan Navy Search and rescue teams rescued 4602 individuals and transported 2000 Kgs of relief items during the day.

GB.
1x C-130 carried fuel to Gilgit and evacuated 112 people.
Army Engineers have repaired two bridges at KKH.
Kaghan - Chilas - Gilgit road has been opened for light traffic.

Misc
Pakistan Army has sent an additional 110 doctors (including 41 lady doctor) to flood affected areas.

---

I think such rubbish reporting and sensationalising of matters should be condemned given the situation facing the country.

 

[Ahmad]

More flood aid pledged to Pakistan


Al Jazeera's Sohail Rahman took the road north from Swat Valley and found the whole community cut off
Pakistan is to receive millions of dollars of fresh aid money as international donors increased assistance to the flood-hit country following criticism over the speed of their response.

The European Union announced on Wednesday that it would almost double its aid to Pakistan to 70 million euros ($90 million), while the US said it would announce extra aid on Thursday.

The new pledges come after several other countries announced major donations over the last few days, including $20 million from Saudi Arabia, $21 from Australia and $10 million from Japan.

The UN said it has now raised more than half of its $460 million aid target, although that includes pledges that have yet to be delivered.

Millions homeless

International aid group Oxfam, which had complained that European countries were "not doing enough", said it hoped the new aid would serve as a "rallying call for those EU countries that have failed to adequately respond to this disaster of an unprecedented scale".

Special coverage

The news came as the UN stated that the number of people left homeless by the floods has reached four million.

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, in Sukkur in Sindh province, said: "I visited some of the more submerged, cut off, isolated villages. They were very difficult to get to.

"And when we got there they were simply ghost villages. People had just fled.

"Malaria is a huge problem in these areas because of the amount of water."

Weather experts have predicted that monsoon rains could ease over coming days, allowing aid operations in stricken region to be expanded.

The improved weather forecast comes after three weeks of torrential rains that caused devastating floods across vast swathes of the country, killing at least 1,400 people and making millions homeless.

The Pakistani government has been criticised for responding slowly to the disaster by survivors, many whom have received no help three weeks after losing everything they own.

Anger mounting

Yousuf Raza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, travelled to the badly hit Swat Valley on Wednesday to meet with victims. He told Al Jazeera that he would support the victims of the disaster.

pakistan floods
At least 1,500 people killed

20 million people affected

6 million people estimated to need food aid

722,000 homes damaged or destroyed

700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) inundated

$459m needed to deal with immediate problems

$184m received so far"I wanted to give a message of solidarity with the people of Swat, and I promise them that the federal government, the provincial government and the people of Pakistan are with them," he said.

Bad weather, lack of funds and poor local information have combined to create "a perfect storm" of problems for the aid effort, humanitarian workers have said.

Ted Itani, from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent, operating in Pakistan, told Al Jazeera that the organisation cannot deal with the fallout from the flooding, let alone a pending second disaster caused by the outbreak of disease.

"I am hampered by [lack of] access to the beneficiaries I am mandated to serve, as well as information. We need more timely and accurate information," Itani said.

"And thirdly there are financial constraints because in our case I can only spend cash that is in my budget. Although donors have pledged millions of dollars it has to filter down into my account so I can order things before the onset of winter.

Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from Karachi, said that anger was growing at the slow response to the disaster.

"The aid effort, both Pakistani and international, continues at a slow pace. Anger is mounting amongst survivors, many of whom have yet to receive any aid at all," he said.

 

[Xeric]

Thanks xeric ! This is five days old now. Swat is totally cut off as of today. Major problems in Muzaffargarh since another patch of main roads has been washed away.

Mapping them is a great initiative.

Sorry, but was this posted before?

Anywaz, i am glad that some are making efforts to document this crisis.

 

[anoopsaxena76]

I have a question and I apologise if this is not the right thread.

Why is Pakistan not accepting India's help offer? I mean I remember a few years back India had warned Pakistan of a looming disaster that Indian Remote Sensing Agency or some government agency had predicted. Forgot the details. And Pakistan had thanked India for the forewarning. Why can a aid not be accepted now? Beats me.

Regards,
Anoop

 

[GUNNER]

Pakistan floods: How new networks of Pakistanis are mobilizing to help

By Issam Ahmed, August 19, 2010

Lahore, Pakistan

Ain-ul-Ghazala, a local Pakistani doctor, says what motivated her to take matters into her own hands came down to what she saw on television. Images of immense misery and destruction brought about by the worst floods in Pakistan in recent memory unfolded before her eyes, and she says she couldn't sit still.

She had noticed hundreds of tents setup on the streets of her hometown, where various groups sought funds and materials. But despite hearing repeated calls for more aid, tales of corruption deterred her from donating to the government or aid organizations, and she didn’t want to give her money to Islamist groups like Jamat-ud-Dawa.

“No one trusts the government anymore, so I wanted to see the situation for myself and do what I could to help,” she explains. As the effects of the disaster wound into a third week, the gynecologist, who works at a private hospital owned by her husband, decided to set off to the flood-afflicted southern Punjab region along with her three adult daughters and one of their friends, also a female medical doctor.

Over the course of two days, they distributed, tents and food, while the two doctors checked in on some 200 patients in Kot Addu, near Muzaffargarh. “There were a lot of people suffering," she says. On top of the health problems, "some didn’t have anything to wear - they were without any clothes,” she says. “We gave iron and calcium supplements to the pregnant women, and ended up seeing a few male patients, too.”

Such stories are becoming increasingly common as educated Pakistanis are taking matters into their own hands, organizing fund-raising activities and distributing aid direct to victims of the flood.

Civil society and activism in Pakistan

According to Rasul Baksh Raees, head of social sciences at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the reach and influence of civil society has grown as Pakistan’s middle classes have become more affluent, organized (thanks in no small part to the Internet age), and confident.

In recent years, Pakistan’s civil society has made headlines for its activism. Indeed, students and middle-class professionals joined lawyers in a movement to restore the country’s popular Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was removed from office twice in recent years by former military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

The networks formed during that "lawyers movement" are the ones that Maham Ali, a student at Bahria University in Islamabad, and her friend Samad Khurram, a Harvard graduate who recently returned to Islamabad, turned to help raise funds for victims of the flooding in the country’s northwest.

Ms. Ali says she used Facebook to solicit contributions from relatives, friends, and friends of friends both at home and abroad. She raised some $2,300, transmitted either to her mother’s bank account or via Western Union transfers, to spend on "family packs" (food items, flour, cooking oils, sugar, lentils, and candles) for the victims of the flooding in Swat. Mr. Khurram and half-a-dozen friends, meanwhile, organized a couple of truckloads of meals and traveled to Swat to hand over supplies to the Army for distribution.

The group was stranded for three days by landslides but then traveled to the village of Solgarah in Pakistan’s northwest to setup a Tandoor kitchen that would feed 50 families for 10 days.

“Naturally we don’t have enough donations for everyone,” says Khurram. “So we tried to make sure the same families aren’t getting the same stuff again and again.”

Tapping the Internet and mobile technology

Avoiding duplication of efforts was also a key motivation for Faisal Chohan, an Islamabad-based technology entrepreneur who created a website to keep track of flooding, aid, shelters throughout Pakistan. Aid workers, officials, and residents can use the system via text message or smart phone log on at: Pakistan flood reports

The open-source platform was originally created in Kenya and called Ushahidi, Swahili for "testimony." It maps user reports of events sent via text message, e-mail, the Web and Twitter. Explains Mr. Chohan: “We believe the mobile [phone] is the best way to communicate with people in normal conditions as well as disasters. This was tried and tested in Kenya and Haiti. Why not put all this first line of reporting on mobiles in Pakistan?” With more than 90 million mobile phone users, he says, it has the potential to become the largest deployment of Ushahidi anywhere in the world.

Others still see opportunities for creative methods of fundraising.

Zahra Mirza, a young artist in the city of Lahore, says it’s important to keep the public’s interest alive as donor fatigue sets in, even among Pakistanis. Along with a group of friends and upcoming artists known collectively as Sanjh, a Punjabi word meaning “togetherness,” Mirza has organized an art auction at the city’s major Alhamra gallery.

To Dr. Raees, the analyst, such initiatives highlight both the lack of faith Pakistanis place in the civil institutions, but also the strong sense of solidarity that unites Pakistanis of different ethnicities and cultures.

“Generally, foreign experts portray Pakistan as a fragmented, divided, and confrontational society,” he says. In reality, he argues, “there are overlapping layers of social forces: religion, history, and tradition that bind the Pakistani people together. Pakistaniat, Pakistani nationhood, is something very strong but unacknowledged by many analysts.”

 

[GUNNER]

I have a question and I apologise if this is not the right thread.

Why is Pakistan not accepting India's help offer? I mean I remember a few years back India had warned Pakistan of a looming disaster that Indian Remote Sensing Agency or some government agency had predicted. Forgot the details. And Pakistan had thanked India for the forewarning. Why can a aid not be accepted now? Beats me.

Regards,
Anoop

There are two sets of opinions on that question, Anoop. To accept or not to accept. The recent spat which followed the visit of S.M. Krishna has hugely contributed to this. But, the aid hasn't been rejected. From what i gathered, Pakistan has asked India to contribute the aid through UN. And the matter is stuck there. Let's see.

 

[anoopsaxena76]

There are two sets of opinions on that question, Anoop. To accept or not to accept. The recent spat which followed the visit of S.M. Krishna has hugely contributed to this. But, the aid hasn't been rejected. From what i gathered, Pakistan has asked India to contribute the aid through UN. And the matter is stuck there. Let's see.

Frankly I wouldn't care if the aid goes through UN. I am anguished and hurt at the delay while so many people struggle to merely stay alive. 5 Million USD or whatever be the amount used today is not equal to 5 million USD used a few days later.

Regards,
Anoop

 

[GUNNER]

Frankly I wouldn't care if the aid goes through UN. I am anguished and hurt at the delay while so many people struggle to merely stay alive. 5 Million USD or whatever be the amount used today is not equal to 5 million USD used a few days later.

Regards,
Anoop

Frankly, neither do i. In times like these we can do away with usual diplomatic procedures. As far as i am concerned, the aid is welcome and should have been utilized by now, given the dearth of funds. Not to mention that it is a good gesture on part of India, though seemingly so little. But when it comes to the governments, we know things don't move so swiftly as we would wish. I don't think there is need to rush with it as long as it settles in a proper manner.

 

[Solomon2]

 

[Xeric]

:: ISPR :: Inter Services Public Relations - PAKISTAN

No PR338/2010-ISPR Dated: August 19, 2010
Rawalpindi - August 19, 2010:

Today, Pakistan Army dispatched 32 ton of rations and 500 tents from Quetta to Dera Murad Jamali. Cooked food and dry ration were distributed at Subhat Pur, Dera Allah Yar, Rojhan, and Usta Mohammand through Helicopters. Army troops also shifted flood affectees from Usta Mohammand to Dera Murad Jamali, Sibbi and Dadder through 40 military trucks in last 24 hours.

1, 50,000 flood affectees are being fed daily and 4000 patients were given medical treatment at Army Relief Camps in Muzzffergarh District.

301 marooned people have been evacuated and 3000 kgs relief goods were transported at Bunji, Astore, Jaglot, Chillas and Skardu through M1-17 Helicopters.

45 tons of rations were transported at Kalam through Helicopter service. 24 mobile points have been established at main Madyan Bridge to facilitate the local population.

25000 packets meal ready to eat has been dropped at flood affected areas of Azad Kashmir.

Pakistan Army has so far distributed 1300 tons of rations from its own quota among the stranded brethren.

4 tons of dry ration and 1850 meal ready to eat packets were distributed at Hazara, Shad Band, Qadir Abad, Tiligram, Saeed Abad and Gishar. New pulley has been installed at Shamozai Bridge to facilitate the locals in crossing over the river.

As highlighted earlier, an additional 40 doctors including 20 armed forces nursing officers have been sent to flood affected areas in Multan and 65 doctors including 25 armed forces nursing officers at Sukkur. The doctors being sent have been disengaged from their additional training and present employment.

 

[Xeric]

 

[Durrak]

The crime rate is also increasing in the affected areas

 

[Solomon2]

I think these could be the people Bezerk was talking about, the NGO that keeps some flood victims in Pakistan from dying of thirst:

Islamic Relief’s Latest Action

Islamic Relief is currently working in three flood-hit provinces - Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab. Emergency aid distributions are taking place in Nowshera, Mardan and Charsadda districts in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, Sibi in Balochistan, and Muzaffargarh in Punjab.

Balochistan

* Six truckloads of aid are being distributed in Bakhtyarabad, Sibi district. Items include a total of 2,550 hygiene kits, household kits (containing mattresses, mosquito nets etc) and kitchen sets, to benefit around 5,950 people.
* Food packs and jerry cans for water are also being distributed.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa

* Family hygiene kits – 1,595 kits (containing water purification tablets, soap etc) have been distributed so far in Nowshera, Mardan, and Charsadda to benefit 11,165 people.
* Tents - an initial 144 tents have been distributed to families in Nowshera and Charsadda to date, with more to come.
* Kitchen sets - almost half of 2,000 kits (containing cooking pots, utensils etc) have been distributed in Charsadda so far.
* Latrines have been constructed at a camp in Nowshera, using fibreglass slabs.
* Hygiene sessions are being conducted, reaching 479 people so far.
* Food Packs and jerry cans for water are also being distributed.

Islamic Relief has offices in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Swat which have all been affected by the floods. We have been assisting vulnerable people in Pakistan since 1991.

 

[Hyde]

US to boost Pakistan flood aid to $150 mn​

Updated at: 0104 PST, Friday, August 20, 2010
US to boost Pakistan flood aid to $150 mn WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday that US aid is swelling to 150 million dollars for Pakistan and called for a halt to extremist attacks during the flood crisis as an "expression of common humanity."

Clinton told a Pakistani television station that she would announce the expansion, from the current 90 million in US aid, at a crisis UN meeting Thursday aimed at mobilizing international support which to date has fallen far short of the country's humanitarian needs.

"I want to see more, and today at the United Nations I will be announcing more US assistance," the top American diplomat told media, in a transcript provided by the State Department.

When asked if the new aid total would be 150 million dollars, she said: "Yes. And I will also be announcing a way for individual Americans to contribute; a fund that I'm setting up here in the State Department."

The State Department has said US flood aid was being distributed through the Pakistani authorities or relief organizations on the ground to "provide critical supplies to flood affected populations."

It also said 18 US military and civilian military aircraft stationed in Pakistan and three in Afghanistan have been deployed in support of relief and rescue operations.

The United Nations estimated 4.6 million people are still without shelter after Pakistan's devastating floods, tripling its target number for assistance as it prepared to drum up more aid.

The UN has described Pakistan's worst humanitarian crisis as one of the world's biggest disasters, but while foreign aid is now reaching some of the 20 million flood victims, critics have slammed the response as too slow.

Pakistan has also warned that extremists may seek to exploit the disastrous conditions as the Pakistani military diverts resources to help battle the floods.

Clinton stressed that it would be a common-sense "expression of common humanity for the terrorists to cease their terrible attacks" in the midst of one of the worst disasters in Pakistani history.

"Why are the terrorists targeting for assassination and bombing Pakistanis at a moment of great natural distress?" she asked on a television channel.

"Have they no shame? Have they no conscience? While the people of Pakistan are literally fighting for their lives against the effects of this flood, the terrorists seem not to care."

 

[Hyde]

I think these could be the people Bezerk was talking about, the NGO that keeps some flood victims in Pakistan from dying of thirst:

Islamic Relief is one of the most reliable charitable organisation in my opinion. I know some of their workers personally and I am pretty much impressed with their services they delivered during the Earthquake back in 2005. Here is some more detail about their work in Pakistan during this flooding

Pakistan Floods - Islamic Relief lauches major appeal for Floods in Pakistan

Please do watch the videos as well especially the one i shared in this post

http://www.defence.pk/forums/1045481-post30.html