Pakistan Floods: India Increases aid to $25million

[Vinod2070]

They are inflating the damage. The areas that have been effected had stone age infrastructure. People were dirt poor.

Pakistan is just trying to use this to milk as much aid as it can.

 

[ajtr]

Pakistani Timber Mafia & Climate Change Caused Much of Summer's Flooding​

Back when 20% of Pakistan was underwater, I wrote about the influence of deforestation on the flooding--deforestation caused in no small part by illegal logging at the hands of the so-called timber mafia, a group with direct ties to the Taliban. Now, the New York Times has some follow up on that issue which is really worth reading. It asserts that terrorism remains Pakistan's number one problem, but environmental degradation is a close second.

Check out this telling stat: When Pakistan gained its independence from Great Britain in 1947, 33% of the nation was covered in forest. Now that's just 4%.

Some of that is no doubt because lack of power infrastructure and poverty means that many people have no choice but to chop wood for heat and cooking fuel.
But most attribute deforestation to Pakistan's famous "timber mafia," a shadowy network of politically connected individuals and firms that chop down trees and will and cart them away under cover of darkness, with bribes to local and national officials guaranteeing that forest managers look the other way.
As for the causes of this summer's flooding, water and environmental engineer Tariq Yousafzai says one third was probably caused by climate change, with the rest attributed to the intersection of deforestation, poor infrastructure development, and engineering problems."

As for how much it'll cost to just get the infrastructure into proper shape, we're talking about $200 million, to start.

 

[nitesh]

see the pakistaniyat in open:

http://www.thenews.com.pk/15-10-2010/islamabad/

Islamabad
A large number of people staged a rally here on Thursday with an aim to press international donors to step forward and write off the country's massive $53 billion debt to guarantee the Pakistani people the 'right to life'. :emot0:Carrying banners and placards, the participants of the rally, organised by the international aid agency, Oxfam, marched from National Press Club to Parliament House where speakers vowed to continue their struggle unless the international community shows seriousness towards this issue.
The Oxfam representative said that the debt must be cancelled because of the level of destruction caused by the recent unprecedented flooding and the massive costs of immediate relief and longer-term reconstruction. The call comes ahead of the meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan today (Friday) in Brussels, where foreign ministers will address the issue of Pakistan's short and long-term needs.
The data provided by the Oxfam stated some two-and-a-half months since the floods struck the 'UN Appeal' is only one-third funded. Rebuilding the country will require a huge injection of funds. The Pakistan government has estimated that reconstruction may cost as much as $45 billion.:emot154:
Some countries, including France, Japan, South Korea and China — all members of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan — have received more money from Pakistan than they have given in response to the flooding. France received $62 million in debt payments in the first nine months of the last financial year, more than 15 times its direct contribution to the flood response. Japan received $111 million, more than five times its contribution to the response. South Korea received four times as much, and China three times as much. {These buggers don't want to return money at all. pathetic}
The data further stated that at a time when Pakistan faces challenges such as terrorism and post-flood situation, the international financial institutions and donor countries should come forward and provide relief in particular reference with foreign debts.
The UN Human Rights Commission has adopted a number of resolutions on the issue of debt and structural adjustment. One such resolution, adopted in 1999, asserts that "The exercise of the basic rights of the people of the debtor countries to food, housing, clothing, employment, education, health services and a healthy environment cannot be subordinated to the implementation of the structural adjustment policies, growth programmes and economic reforms".
Farzana Bari, a social activist, while speaking on the occasion, said that recent calamity in Pakistan has rendered hundreds of thousands of people homeless and now it is quite a daunting task for the government to ensure their proper rehabilitation in their respective areas.
She said that the International Monetary Fund waived a debt of $268 million given to Haiti and after this the World Bank also eased the life of Haitians by deferring repayment of its debt for five years. "The unprecedented rains have triggered a massive humanitarian crisis that has threatened the lives of millions of people including women and children. The international donors should also waive off foreign debts of Pakistan to help cope with the critical situation," she said. {de de baba. so we can make more nukes, buy F 16 and submarines}
Farzana Bari said the affected people do not belong to a specific age group, but include infants to 80-year-olds and now all these people find themselves in a situation where they have lost all their property and assets.
According to the flood data from the last 62 years, the country has suffered cumulative financial losses of more than Rs385 billion on account of 15 major floods. However, the damage done by the 2010 floods is far more than that figure.
Consuelo Lopez-Zuriaga, Oxfam Head of Humanitarian Campaigns, said it is a moral and economic absurdity that while poverty-struck people in Pakistan are struggling to put their lives back together much richer countries like France and Japan are receiving vast sums of money in debt payments.:funny_2:
"The debt burden cannot be allowed to impede the relief and reconstruction efforts. Pakistan needs aid and its debts dropped so that families can get back to their land and rebuild their homes and their lives," he said.

 

[Vinod2070]

^^ Another shameless attempt by the Pakistani elite to hoodwink the world in the name of suffering of the Pakistani people that they don't care about.

The debt relief will only enable them to borrow even more and loot even more. Not a penny will go to those in whose name they are trying to get this waiver.

No sense of honor and dignity for those who claim to live for their H&D.

 

[ejazr]

Water illnesses new threat in Pakistan - UPI.com

{What religion has to do with drinking water?}


{Can some body explain what is being conveyed here?}

From what I gather, its more like superstitious customs than religious.

The poor IDPs think that just by saying a few prayers the water will get purified or something of that sort. Nothing that has directly to do with religion as the religious scholar explained later.

There are many such superstious beliefs that go around for one reason or another. For example for some reason in Afghanistan, people there thought that polio drops were for sterilising their kids or had alcohol mixed in them. Until the WHO got the local mullas and imams involved to convince the population that there is nothing wrong with taking polio drops and that every should do so.

Result of illiteracy and lack of knowledge. We will probably find similar examples in poor parts of India as well.