ISLAMABAD, Aug 21, (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised the global community as emergency donations for Pakistan neared 500 million dollars but warned the flood-stricken nation faces “years of need.”Donations have outstripped the 460 million sought by the UN emergency appeal as the global relief effort kicked into gear amid impassioned pleas for help by Pakistan.
 |
| A woman prepares food in a camp for flood victims in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district of Punjab province. REUTERS |
The Financial Tracking Service, a UN database that aims to track all donations, showed late Friday that 490.7 million dollars in funding has been collected, with another 325 million dollars pledged.
The United States leads the way following by Saudi Arabia and Britain.
The United Nations on Thursday led a meeting to raise support for Pakistan -- a disaster which the UN's Ban called a “slow-motion tsunami.”On Friday the UN chief welcomed the donations, saying: “The generosity of countries and individuals will make a real difference in the daily lives of millions of people.
“We must keep it up. Pakistan is facing weeks, months and years of need.”The floods have left nearly 1,500 people dead in the nuclear-armed country of 167 million -- a top US foreign policy priority on the frontline of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda and locked in battles with homegrown Taliban.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who has been appealing for help in the US, said Friday that it was important to look not only at emergency funding but at long-term needs.
Eight million flood survivors in desperate need of food, shelter and clean drinking water require humanitarian assistance to survive, as concerns grow over potential cholera, typhoid and hepatitis outbreaks. |
E-mail
