The world doesn't line up to help Pakistan.

[MZUBAIR]

---

---

Angelina pledges over Pakistan calamity

NEW YORK: Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has pledged to "do what she can" for flood-ravaged Pakistan.

The Oscar-winning actress, 35, was asked what she would do in her role as goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as she promoted her new action thriller, Salt, in London's West End.

"I'm doing what I can. I'm talking to Ambassador [Richard] Holbrooke, the UN and people on the ground about how we can spend our money," she said at the film's premiere in Leicester Square.

Jolie, who arrived without long-term partner Brad Pitt, added: "It's unravelling every minute, it seems to be getting worse so we're trying to keep track of it."

The Changeling star is considering all her options and listening to advisers.

"A lot of people say it is important to visit but maybe in a month or two when the cameras go away - we don't know when is the best time. We're just going to keep on it and listen and take advice from the people on the ground as to what is best to do."

Shimmering in a silver sequinned floor-length gown by Amanda Wakeley and Salvatore Ferragamo heels, Jolie thanked the thousands of fans who had waited for her - some camped out for 27 hours.

In Salt, which also stars Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor, she plays a CIA officer who goes on the run after being accused of being a Russian spy

"I love doing action and I think that when you like what you do, it's contagious and hopefully people will like it too," she said.

"I love it - I love to punch things, jump off things and shoot, so I'm lucky I got the job."

[AbuSalam]

Few Non resident Pakistani's in UAE has decided to raise funds collecting money from all who can help !!
Do the donors have donor fatigue ???

[NWO]

Few Non resident Pakistani's in UAE has decided to raise funds collecting money from all who can help !!
Do the donors have donor fatigue ???

After Haiti, I wouldn't be surprised. People have their own families and future to look after, and Haiti probably took a good chunk out of the wallets of both governments and individuals.

[Bhim]

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Pakistan’s ‘image deficit’ hurting aid funds flow: UN

GENEVA: Relief agencies are having trouble obtaining funds to help millions of flood victims as Pakistan suffers from an “image deficit”, a UN spokeswoman said on Monday. “We note often an image deficit with regards to Pakistan among Western public opinion,” said Elizabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “As a result, Pakistan is among countries that are poorly financed, like Yemen,” she added. The UN has been struggling to obtain $460 million to provide emergency aid to six million victims of the country ravaged by heavy flooding. afp


http://pakistannewsblog.com/pakistan...funds-flow-un/


GENEVA: Relief agencies are having trouble obtaining funds to help millions of Pakistan flood victims as the country suffers from an “image deficit”, a UN spokeswoman said Monday.

“We note often an image deficit with regards to Pakistan among Western public opinion,” said Elizabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“As a result, Pakistan is among countries that are poorly financed, like Yemen,” she added.

The Unied Nations has been struggling to obtain $460 million to provide emergency aid to six million victims of the country ravaged by heavy flooding. Only a fifth of the required funds have been pledged since the appeal was launched on August 11.

Melanie Brooks, spokeswoman of the humanitarian group Care International stressed that the UN must explain to donor states that “the money is not going to go to the hands of the Talibans.”

“The victims are the mothers, the farmers, children. But in the past, information linked to Pakistan has always been linked to Talibans and terrorism,” she said.

According to authorities, around a quarter of the country which extends over 800,000 square kilometres (308,880 square miles) and counts 167 million inhabitants, have been affected by the floods.

The UN said billions would be needed in the long term to reconstruct the villages, infrastructure and harvests devastated by the floods.

[kattu-mian]

Islamic nations snub UN plea to help flood victims | The Australian

There you go.All the talk of "ummah"

[Ahmad]

It is a shame they havent helped Pakistan enough. After all it should be about humanity rather than religion.

[Spring Onion]

Oh Shut up. why idiots come and troll by posting from trolling sites.

Saudi Arabia has pledged 100 million dollars the biggest of all donations from all countries. Besides they are also running a telethon appeal and till today they have collected over 20 million dollars and its continued. this is apart from that 100 million dollars.

Turkey is actively helping . Afghanistan despite its own problems have also donated.

More to come.

[True_Pakistan_Zindabad]

Well of course, if there is any heavy duty fighting we are the first to run and volunteer for other people's battles. Our turn comes to receive help...well you have seen it.

[magg]

Everybody is aware about how much of the aid is diverted to other purposes and thus they want to be a realist rather than trying to fund the Palaces of pak politicians.

[Ahmad]

Oh Shut up. why idiots come and troll by posting from trolling sites.

Saudi Arabia has pledged 100 million dollars the biggest of all donations from all countries. Besides they are also running a telethon appeal and till today they have collected over 20 million dollars and its continued. this is apart from that 100 million dollars.

Turkey is actively helping . Afghanistan despite its own problems have also donated.

More to come.

Saudis' generous help is much appreciated, but out of many many islamic countries Pakistan is receiving not much. And we shouldnt forget that it took them too long to respond.

[Spring Onion]

Oh Shut up. why idiots come and troll by posting from trolling sites.

Saudi Arabia has pledged 100 million dollars the biggest of all donations from all countries. Besides they are also running a telethon appeal and till today they have collected over 20 million dollars and its continued. this is apart from that 100 million dollars.

Turkey is actively helping . Afghanistan despite its own problems have also donated.

More to come.

[kattu-mian]

Oh Shut up. why idiots come and troll by posting from trolling sites.

Saudi Arabia has pledged 100 million dollars the biggest of all donations from all countries. Besides they are also running a telethon appeal and till today they have collected over 20 million dollars and its continued. this is apart from that 100 million dollars.

Turkey is actively helping . Afghanistan despite its own problems have also donated.

More to come.

FYI, I am not trolling and neither the article is from a troll site.Instigating others is what you are good at not me.

[Spring Onion]

Saudis' generous help is much appreciated, but out of many many islamic countries Pakistan is receiving not much. And we shouldnt forget that it took them too long to respond.

Indeed but many to follow i believe. and everyone had responded late.

and out of many many Islamic countries i dont think so everyone can afford to donate millions of dollars.


But again its up to them whatever they can. for the time being its only relief provision the difficult part has yet to come and that is of reconstruction.

They can take part in that physically if cant financially.

[Spring Onion]

FYI, I am not trolling and neither the article is from a troll site.Instigating others is what you are good at not me.

Yes you were when you brought ummah into it.

FYI its Pakistan which always talk of ummah and proven itself by reaching to every Muslim country in case of such disasters.

NOW dont tell me you have a problem that why Pakistan do so when some other Islamic countries dont respond in the same.

[Aeronaut]

---

---

Islamic nations snub UN plea to help flood victims | The Australian

There you go.All the talk of "ummah"

You cant help yourself from trolling can you ?

Pakistan flood aid inadequate, UN warns


By SAEED SHAH
McClatchy Newspapers

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan remains desperately short of the money it needs to cope with the huge floods that have devastated the country in the past two weeks, the United Nations warned Tuesday as the scale of the disaster continued to grow.

A government relief fund established by Pakistan's prime minister has collected just $1.4 million, a government spokesman said. The United States has provided another $76 million in cash, and other countries and international agencies have pledged about $280 million more, which will be distributed through the government, the U.N. and nongovernmental organizations. The World Bank is to make $900 million available.

Those amounts, however, are nowhere near the billions that are needed to deal with a calamity that's swept through more than one-fifth of Pakistan's land mass, wiped out crops in the agricultural heartland, affected more than 20 million people and has many people worrying that the government itself could collapse. The Finance Ministry has warned that the floods probably will halve the nation's projected 4.5 percent economic growth this year.

"This is probably the biggest emergency on the planet today, and we need to respond keeping that in mind," Daniel Toole, the South Asia regional director of UNICEF, said at a news conference Tuesday in Islamabad. "It's beyond what any government or any one organization can do by itself, and beyond what we can expect the Pakistani people to respond to."


On Wednesday, the government will face a direct challenge to its fundraising efforts when cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan launches his own campaign to garner donations and set up an organization to deliver aid to flood victims.

"The government has totally collapsed. There's no government here," Khan said in an interview. "The government's efforts to raise money have totally failed, because no one trusts the government."

Khan's political party hasn't shown any significant following at elections, and some suspect that he's aligned with Islamic hard-liners, but he has a reputation for being "clean" and a proven record of fundraising. He described the international aid so far as "peanuts."


Much of what the international community has pledged has yet to be delivered.

According to the latest figures from Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, the United States heads the list of donors with $76 million in cash, plus goods and services that are said to be worth another $11 million. Great Britain is No. 2, with $50 million. China, which is popular in Pakistan, has offered $9 million.

There has been criticism of Muslim countries not giving enough, which seems to have stung some to reach into their pockets. Saudi Arabia has delivered $44 million, while Turkey is to give $11 million.

Many energy-rich Middle Eastern countries are being less than generous, however. Qatar has pledged just $400,000. Pakistan's neighbor to the west, Iran, is giving $800,000, while the United Arab Emirates has no pledge that the Pakistani authorities have recorded.

"The people of Pakistan will see that when the crisis hits, it's not the Chinese, it's not the Iranians, it's not other countries, it's not the EU. It's the U.S. that always leads," Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said last week on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a special U.N. General Assembly session Thursday to push for more aid. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is due to arrive in Pakistan later this week to assess the situation for himself.


In addition to the cash, the U.S. has 19 helicopters ferrying relief goods and rescuing an estimated 3,500 people. Pakistan continues to fight Taliban insurgents in its northwest, though some 60,000 troops have been deployed to deal with the floods.

"We don't know what impact it's having on the insurgents," the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, told a news briefing Tuesday in Islamabad.

(Shah is a McClatchy Newspapers special correspondent.)