Disappointment over response to UN aid appeal

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has expressed her concern and disappointment over weak response.

UNITED NATIONS: The newly-appointed UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has expressed her concern and disappointment over the weak international response to the UN’s appeal for Pakistan’s flood assistance, urging donors to “dig deeper” into their pockets to meet the needs of  the suffering people.

After a strong start, funding for the Pakistan floods response seems to have reached a plateau, claimed Amos.

“It is both worrying and disappointing that this is happening when the needs continue to rise and the suffering is still so evident. I urge donors to dig deeper, we will need their support for months to come”, she added.

The UN had initially requested $460 million from donors to cover basic needs, however only $294 million has been received so, 64 percent of what was required, as informed by sources.

“New donations have dropped to just $20 million over the last two weeks,”

Amos said in Islamabad, where she spent her first day on the job to witness the humanitarian response to the flood disaster.

The UN refugee agency recently helped raise visibility in the financial world about Pakistan’s flood situation, by taking part in the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony in New York.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2010.