Pakistan flood crisis bigger than tsunami, Haiti
 

[B][COLOR="Navy"] The number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan could exceed the combined total in three recent megadisasters - the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake - the United Nations said Monday.[/COLOR][/B]

[COLOR="Black"][B]The death toll in each of those three disasters was much higher than the 1,500 people killed so far in the floods that first hit Pakistan two weeks ago. But the Pakistani government estimates that over 13 million people have been affected - two million more than the other disasters combined.

The comparison helps frame the scale of the crisis, which has overwhelmed the Pakistani government and has generated widespread anger from flood victims who have complained that aid is not reaching them quickly enough or at all.

''It looks like the number of people affected in this crisis is higher than the Haiti earthquake, the tsunami or the Pakistan earthquake, and if the toll is as high as the one given by the government, it's higher than the three of them combined,'' Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told The Associated Press.

The UN has provided a lower number of people who have been affected in Pakistan, about 6 million, but Giuliano said his organization does not dispute the government's figure. The UN number does not include the southern province of Sindh, which has been hit by floods in recent days, and the two sides have slightly different definitions of what it means to be affected.

The total number of people affected in the three other large disasters that have hit in recent years is about 11 million - 5 million in the tsunami and 3 million in each of the earthquakes - said Giuliano.

Many of the people affected by the floods, which were caused by extremely heavy monsoon rains, were located in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Rescue workers have been unable to reach up to 600,000 people marooned in the province's Swat Valley, where many residents were still trying to recover from an intense battle between the army and the Taliban last spring, said Giuliano. Bad weather has prevented helicopters from flying to the area, which is inaccessible by ground, he said.

''All these people are in very serious need of assistance, and we are highly concerned about their situation,'' said Giuliano.

Hundreds of thousands of people have also had to flee rising floodwaters in recent days in the central and southern provinces of Punjab and Sindh as heavy rains have continued to pound parts of the country.

One affected resident, Manzoor Ahmed, said Monday that although he managed to escape floods that submerged villages and destroyed homes in Sindh, the total lack of government help meant dying may have been a better alternative.

''It would have been better if we had died in the floods as our current miserable life is much more painful,'' said Ahmed, who fled with his family from the town of Shikarpur and spent the night shivering in the rain that has continued to lash the country.

''It is very painful to see our people living without food and shelter,'' he said.

Thousands of people in the neighboring districts of Shikarpur and Sukkur camped out on roads, bridges and railway tracks - any dry ground they could find - often with nothing more than the clothes on their backs and perhaps a plastic sheet to keep off the rain.

''I have no utensils. I have no food for my children. I have no money,'' said Hora Mai, 40, sitting on a rain-soaked road in Sukkur along with hundreds of other people. ''We were able to escape the floodwaters, but hunger may kill us.''

A senior government official in Sukkur, Inamullah Dhareejo, said authorities were working to set up relief camps in the district and deliver food to flood victims.

But an Associated Press reporter who traveled widely through the worst-hit areas in Sindh over the past three days saw no sign of relief camps or government assistance.

The worst floods in Pakistan's history hit the country at a time when the government is already struggling with a faltering economy and a brutal war against Taliban militants that has killed thousands of people.

The US and other international partners have stepped in to support the government by donating tens of millions of dollars and providing relief supplies and assistance.

But the UN special envoy for the disaster, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said Sunday that Pakistan will need billions of dollars more from international donors to recover from the floods, a daunting prospect at a time when the financial crisis has shrunk aid budgets in many countries.[/B][/COLOR]

[B][COLOR="Blue"]I pray for those who have lost their lives and fir those who are suffering the deadliest flood crisis and test of ALLAH...May Allah bless all my pakistanis surrounded in it with peace and life...[/COLOR][/B]

Assalam o alikum !

All respected n valuable members ,fellows ...

The Pakistan and Pakistani are facing the worst flood in history...now its not only our GOVT. responsibility to do for the them and the destruction is so severe and affected vast area that they alone cant meet the need of the large number of affectees.this is crucial time though its natural disaster but at least we should try to do something people have lost their homes their native places their whole life savings n their beloveds n even they are not getting food to survive................

[COLOR="DarkRed"][B]Ye Ujri Ujri si bastiyan,ye Tootay phootay se Baam-o-Dar,
Ye Wohi Dayar hai Doston Jahan log Phirty thy Raat Bhar...
Jihen Zindagi ka Sha'oor tha , Unhen Bey-Zari ne Bujha dia.
Jo Giran hain Seena-e-Khak per, Wohi Ben k Bethy hain Moataber

[/B][/COLOR]

Brother n sister its our duty to join hands together to overcome such situation n do practically for affectees.What we have to do is that we have to select the nearest destructed Tahsil and city n help them all means like providing foods (at least) not to visit just for thrill or visiting for advertisement ....but for the help of these poor families and save them..please

So after selecting the Tahsil or city ...collect some money or Groceries from ur organization's fellows in which u people are working just through skipping ur 1 lunch or dinner or instead of spending thousands in shopping for Eid n Ramazan u can spend this money for buying some foodstuff for ur brothers and sisters...who now living just on leaves (and its true....)

then select just one person(these is no need to go in the group of 15 20 people creating just fuss..if necessary then group of 3 ,4 person is more then enough) in between u n send him to distribute all these things to these affectees.

if all of us can able to send just 1 truck from our each department ,organization or institution(on the behalf on our own self) ...then at least we can save many lives. ..(coz qatra qatra mil kr he darya banta hy)..these affectees are not others but these are from us n like us ...

Do prayfor all of us...

Flood devastation and food hoarding. Already?!!!!
 

Good Business or Flogging a dead horse?

Yesterday i came to know from a friend of mine that this commodity broker pushing his father to invest money in his business to buy x amount of flour and rice because the money is going to get doubled in the next 6 or so months. Apparently its "GUARANTEED", and get this according to this broker his counterparts are also buying whatever they can. They actually have this reason that because of the floods the government will be forced to buy things from them at higher rates. This has already happened. Flour crises of 2008, shortage of rice in 2007 and 2008 and on/off price hike of sugar.
I am from a very small city. God know what the heck is happening in big cities. The most depressing thing is that the flood disaster isn't over yet and people are already getting these kind of ideas. What if somehow flood turns its way to their precious flour mills and godowns what then?
I came to know this news (which i would have never imagined) on 63rd birthday of Pakistan, and we cry over corrupt leaders and say "what have we done to deserve this". I guess its very simple they are us and we are them.


Hadith (Ibn-e-Maja) "Who stops grains for Muslims and doesn't sell in-spite of the need, Allah puts poverty and leprosy upon them"

Either we are not Muslims or I am tooooo dumb to understand this Hadith.

see wts happening around Pakistan these days
 

[URL="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/rafia-zakaria-aid-and-ngos-890"][B]Aid and NGOs [/B][/URL]
[URL="http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/flood-crisis-in-pakistan-raises-fears-of-country-s-collapse-1.114648?localLinksEnabled=false"][B]Flood crisis in Pakistan raises fears of country's collapse[/B][/URL]
[URL="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/floods/2010_pakistan_floods/index.html"][B]2010 Pakistan Floods[/B][/URL]
[URL="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2010/08/why_are_pakistans_floods_getti.php"][B]Why are Pakistan's Floods Getting Less Attention than Haiti's Earthquake?[/B][/URL]
[URL="http://www.undispatch.com/node/10132"][B]US Media Silent on Pakistan Flooding[/B] [/URL]

:@ rishzzz
Aid and NGOs
Flood crisis in Pakistan raises fears of country's collapse

flood crisis raise the fears of collapse!!Do u know the situation during 1971,65 and 1947??No one know the exact no of pplz being killed..Girls of age 15-25 who used to put niqab were brutally killed n thrown naked..Zulm ki intha thi..Alhamdulillah this is not condition now!!!!Our media just hype negative things..Anti-government!!
Sister [B]AMNA[/B] is absolutely right we should atleast go and visit nearest camp ourselves instead of relying on media or anyone else...We should have our own view and opinion.I am witness of few camps, can conclude that many pplz r donating and volunteer themselves for flood.Even govt is taking part as well..As far as Aid is concern then our so called friend USA has only announced $25 million but have only received 8%-10%.Though for Haiti it was $900 million. Only Saudi has fulfilled its promise.I still remember the words of Mayor during Hurricane Katrina wen 20 countries donated them including Pak $1 Million."Thank You very much for your donations BUT WE R AMERICANS SO WE CAN LOOK OURSELVES!!"

Flood crisis
 

Pakistan’s devastating floods have opened up a Pandora’s Box of governance dysfunctions and historical distortions that have plagued the polity since independence. It remains to be seen what will be the outcome of the greatest calamity in our recent history. Various estimates show that the floods have affected 18-20 million people. The death toll has crossed the figure of 2000 while 2 million houses have been damaged or destroyed. Floodwaters are receding in many areas, and though there are concerns about standing water that remains in Punjab and other areas, the worst of the current flooding is taking place in Sindh.

The disaster is still not over but the fissures within Pakistan have started to erupt and once again proving how vulnerable the state is and how fractured the Pakistani society has become. Five key crises have emerged, some old and some new. However, they pointto the fact that our continuous refusal to address structural problems remains a key challenge.

Martial state syndrome: Pakistan’s history is an uninterrupted tale of direct and indirect military rule and centralisation. Each time there is a crisis there is a need to resort to the de facto, real governance paradigm: the military rule. Therefore, Altaf Hussain of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Imran Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) are not saying anything new. The perennial search for a Messiah, rooted in the religious ideology that the state and education system have cultivated, is back in full force. This time the media and other discordant voices are calling for another phase of direct military rule

Khuda tujay iss dard se aashna kar day !!!
 

[B]I do appreciate the efforts of a common man for this very common issue of donating flood-victims.

I think every Pakistani has participated to some extent in this "Kaar-e-Khair".

If Mr. President donates his 50 % wealth, we will not be in need of foreign aid. I have asked the same from GS of People's Youth Federation already but he had no answer.

Same is in case of Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Why don't they think that every soul has to depart.
[COLOR="DarkGreen"]
Ameer-e-shehr ghareebo-n ko loot leta hay
Kabhi ba-heela-e-mazhab, kabhi ba-naam-e-watan ![/COLOR]

Regards

[/B]