Sluggish donor response another disaster in making: Oxfam
Approximately 97% of the UN’s $357 million appeal remains unfunded.
ISLAMABAD:
International humanitarian aid agency Oxfam on Tuesday expressed alarm over the sluggish donor response to this year’s floods in Pakistan, with only $1.30 committed per affected person by international donors in the first 10 days of the UN appeal. In the same period during last year’s floods, $3.20 were committed per person.
According to a press release, Oxfam called on the government of Pakistan, as well as the international donor community to “dig deep into their resources and rapidly increase their funding to prevent the disaster from deteriorating further”.
According to latest figures, more than 8.8 million people in Sindh and 14,000 people in Balochistan have been affected by the 2011 monsoon rains. The human impact of this disaster in terms of the number of people affected is more than the combined impact of the Haiti earthquake and the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, the press release said. Reported losses are being estimated at $215million, which is likely to increase as some areas are inaccessible, it added.
“This is a cruel repeat of last year. Again funding is too little and far too slow. Donors must recognise the gravity of the situation. There is no time to waste. We must all act now,” said Neva Khan, Country Director of Oxfam in Pakistan.
According to Oxfam, approximately 97 per cent of the UN’s $357 million appeal remains unfunded. So far, only $11.5 million have been committed by donors.
“This pales in comparison with the amounts committed to other crises. Within the first 10 days of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which left some 3.5 million people homeless, the international community had committed $247 million and pledged $45 million. This works out to $70 committed per person, during that time period,” stated Oxfam.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.
International humanitarian aid agency Oxfam on Tuesday expressed alarm over the sluggish donor response to this year’s floods in Pakistan, with only $1.30 committed per affected person by international donors in the first 10 days of the UN appeal. In the same period during last year’s floods, $3.20 were committed per person.
According to a press release, Oxfam called on the government of Pakistan, as well as the international donor community to “dig deep into their resources and rapidly increase their funding to prevent the disaster from deteriorating further”.
According to latest figures, more than 8.8 million people in Sindh and 14,000 people in Balochistan have been affected by the 2011 monsoon rains. The human impact of this disaster in terms of the number of people affected is more than the combined impact of the Haiti earthquake and the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, the press release said. Reported losses are being estimated at $215million, which is likely to increase as some areas are inaccessible, it added.
“This is a cruel repeat of last year. Again funding is too little and far too slow. Donors must recognise the gravity of the situation. There is no time to waste. We must all act now,” said Neva Khan, Country Director of Oxfam in Pakistan.
According to Oxfam, approximately 97 per cent of the UN’s $357 million appeal remains unfunded. So far, only $11.5 million have been committed by donors.
“This pales in comparison with the amounts committed to other crises. Within the first 10 days of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which left some 3.5 million people homeless, the international community had committed $247 million and pledged $45 million. This works out to $70 committed per person, during that time period,” stated Oxfam.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.