United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged donors to show the same kind of generosity towards earthquake-hit Pakistan as they did in the wake of last year’s Indian Ocean tsunami.
Before addressing a gathering of UN and other aid agencies, donor governments and Pakistani officials in Geneva, Annan called for a renewed outpouring of support.
“We saw this generosity at the time of the tsunami. We need it here too,” Annan told journalists. “I know it’s been a difficult year in terms of natural disasters, beginning with the tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the disaster in Central America, and now we have the earthquake. There must be a bit of fatigue, but we need your help to save lives.
“We need the support of governments, private citizens, the private sector and anyone who can spare a euro, a pound or a dollar. It is urgent and it is desperate.”
The October 8 earthquake mainly battered Pakistani-administered Kashmir, leaving at least 54 000 people dead and about 77 000 injured.
Relief agencies are trying to rush shelter and medical treatment to villages in the mountainous region before they are cut off by winter snows within about three weeks.
Many aid organisations have said a shortage of funding is slowing the relief effort. The UN has appealed for hundreds of millions of dollars, but has thus far received only a fraction of the money it needs.
“I think that the NGOs that are complaining about lack of response to appeals are right. We share that view,” said Annan.
The tsunami on December 26 last year killed 217 000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Maldives and India, as well as affecting other countries around the Indian Ocean.
Many observers have suggested that Pakistan is missing out because the quake cannot grab the headlines in the same way as did the tsunami, which also killed foreign tourists.
Asked why the Pakistani quake is capturing less attention, Annan said: “Above all, it was Christmas. People are more generous then. And it was also a catastrophe which affected around 50 countries.
“We saw little children without their mothers, families who had lost everything. There were videos aired all over the place. And the world mobilised to help.
“We don’t have the same kind of situation here, but I hope we will nonetheless be able to help.”
Later, in a speech to donors, Annan urged them to do all they could to prevent a new humanitarian disaster in Pakistan with the onset of winter.
“While no one today could have had the power to prevent the earthquake from happening, we do have the power to stop the next wave: the deaths and despair caused by freezing temperatures and disease, by lack of shelter, food and water,” Annan told the aid meeting. — AFP