Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal

(we shall now take a break from nail polish and election ranting)

PAKISTAN IN DIRE NEED OF BILLIONS IN AID AS FLOODS AFFECT OVER 14 MILLION
9 August 2010

At least 1,600 Pakistanis have been killed and over 14 million residents have been affected by the worst floods in Pakistan’s history. With entire villages submerged and more than half a million hectares of farm land the tragedy from this ongoing natural disaster is immense and help is desperately needed.

“The devastation by the floods is enormous, and some towns have been completely washed away. What used to be small streams are now highways of fast-flowing water that are destroying everything in their way” said Josep Prior Tio, Field Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières in Swat.

The special United Nations envoy for Pakistan’s flood disaster has said the country will need billions of dollars in aid to recover from this emergency and further billions will be needed in the recovery and reconstruction in the months and years ahead.

Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal is urging Australian’s to go: www.pakistan.com.au where they will be directed to a number of charities accepting donations for the disaster including Oxfam, Unicef and Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia and can make much needed donations.

The disaster has been described as worse than the tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake by Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Funds are not only desperately needed to help those already affected but also to alleviate further illness and deaths associated with the contamination of water.

The northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been worst hit after receiving heavy monsoon rains to week ago, much of the aid needed for Pakistan will go to the recovery of this area.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has appealed to those outside Pakistan saying in a televised broadcast, “I would ask international community to support and help Pakistan alleviate sufferings of flood-affected people.”

Any donation no matter how large or small will help those affected so please go to www.pakistan.com.au and give to those who so desperately need your help. If you don’t have funds to give please spread the word of the Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal to friends and family.

Visit http://www.pakistan.com.au/ to get the links to your charity of choice.

Tagged as: charity