'Pitiful' response to floods disaster

THE international response to the Pakistan floods has been described as "absolutely pitiful" as figures yesterday showed nearly a quarter of the aid to the stricken country had come from Britain.

Speaking ahead of a visit to the country by International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg suggested donations from the public may be muted because people were "struggling to understand" the scale of the crisis.

He said: "About close to one quarter of the aid already devoted to Pakistan has come from this country. The response from the international community as a whole, I have to say, has been lamentable. It's been absolutely pitiful."

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Mr Mitchell is to see what help is needed on the ground and how Britain can help Pakistan recover from the disaster which has killed 1,500 people and left an estimated 20 million people homeless and at risk of spreading disease.

Describing the response so far as "woefully inadequate". Mr Mitchell said: "If the international community fails to provide immediate support, this crisis will get worse and the suffering of millions of people will intensify. We must act, and act now."

In Pakistan itself the situation is becoming increasingly fraught and yesterday angry survivors blocked a road to protest against the slow delivery of aid, as a forecast of more flooding increased the urgency of the international relief effort.

Britons have so far given 15m to help victims of the worst floods in Pakistan's history, providing some 600,000 survivors with emergency care, clean water, food or shelter.

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The UK Government has also earmarked 31.3m in aid, nearly 17m of which has now been allocated.

But the response has been lower than in the wake of the Haiti earthquake earlier this year, and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) says more is needed as the situation on the ground is deteriorating.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged the international community to step up their aid pledges after visiting some of the affected areas yesterday, describing it as the worst natural disaster he had ever seen.

The floods began more than two weeks ago in the mountainous north-west and have spread throughout the country.

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At least 20 million people and 160,000 square miles of land – about a fifth of the country – have been affected.

Yesterday hundreds of victims blocked a major highway with stones and rubbish near the hard-hit Sukkur area, complaining they were being treated like animals.

Protester Kalu Mangiani said government officials only came to hand out food when media were present.

"They are throwing packets of food to us like we are dogs. They are making people fight for these packets," he said.

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Meanwhile, Sindh irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo said a dam in Sukkur faced a major test of its strength as floodwaters coursed down the Indus River into Pakistan's highly populated agricultural heartland.

The latest flooding hit a poor region on the border between Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.

The top government official in Nasirabad district, Sher Khan Bazai, said 25,000 families had been made homeless by waters 8ft high in some places.

He said that some 4,000 small villages had been either cut off or washed out. "Water is everywhere," he said.

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The UN has voiced fears that disease in overcrowded and unsanitary relief camps may yet cause more deaths.

To make a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visit http://www.dec.org.uk, donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque.

People can also donate 5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707.