Govt To Give More Aid To Pakistan

The Irish Government has announced it will provide more funding to help the victims of Pakistan's floods.

Minister with Responsibility for Overseas Development Peter Power made the announcement during an Oireachtas Committee specially convened to discuss the disaster.

Mr Power said further money would be allocated in addition to the €2m already pledged.

Speaking ahead of the Committee session Minister Power said: "I am deeply and increasingly concerned by the humanitarian situation in Pakistan. The risk of a second wave humanitarian crisis continues to grow.

"The lives of millions, in particular the most vulnerable and especially children, remain in jeopardy as they wait for clean water, food and medical aid. In the southern Sindh province some estimates indicate that only 3% of affected people have been reached. If accurate this is an unacceptable situation.

"Last Thursday I met with the United Nation’s humanitarian aid chief, John Holmes. His message was that, unless aid speeds up, the future for the fifteen million people whose homes and livelihoods have been washed away by this terrible disaster looks increasingly bleak."

The Minister also confirmed he will be meeting with aid agencies and charities here next week to assess how they can work together with the Irish Government to help the victims of the floods.

Figures, from the UN, show that the current major donor to the s the UK - with over $7m, however other countries are ahead when measured per capita.

The Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, has come under intense criticism over the disaster, accused of neglect of duty for leaving the country during the worst period of the floods.

There is also emerging evidence of a boost for fundamentalist Islamist charities, some with links to militant groups, which have stepped in to the gap left by the inadequacies of the state in response to the disaster.

So far, some 20 million people have been affected by the disaster, with floods now taking hold in around one fifth of the world's land mass.

(DW/BMcC)