The devastating floods in Pakistan have killed less people than that of the Haiti earthquake or the 2004 tsunami. But it does and will continue to impact twenty million people that are trying to flee the area – larger than Italy (check out the comparison against Australia) – still underwater.
The reaction to the unprecedented scale of disaster has been slow, including from Pakistan’s own government. For example, to date, US$251 million dollars has been provided for Pakistan while at the same point in time, the Haiti earthquake had raised $637 million.
UN secretary, Ban Ki-Moon has said, “Pakistan is facing a slow-motion tsunami. Its destructive powers will accumulate and grow with time”. So why has the international community been so slow to react?
Setting up ActionAid’s distribution point in Jharo, Upper Swat, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan. A local person has volunteered his hujira to our partner to be used as a storage and distribution point.
Before even addressing some of the issues raised in the current debate it is important to note that Australia is not a major international donor to the poorest countries by international standards and this fact is consistently incorrectly misrepresented in the mainstream media.
