Earthquake aide

Rich world 'failing' on quake aid

Many survivors need shelter and food before winter
Many of the world's richest countries have so far failed to support a UN appeal for victims of the South Asian quake, a top UK-based charity has said.
The charity, Oxfam, said less than 30% of the $312m (£175m) sought by UN aid agencies had even been promised.

It said the US, Japan, Germany and Italy had given less than their "fair share" as large economies.
Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain had so far donated nothing at all, it added.
Meanwhile, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said the financial cost of the quake will be more than $5bn.

In an interview with London's Financial Times, he defended his handling of the country's worst natural disaster, saying the government "had done a good, if not a very good, job".
But he acknowledged that hardline Islamic groups had stepped into an administrative vacuum in the days after the quake, providing relief and humanitarian assistance in Kashmir, a development that analysts say will bolster their legitimacy.

The criticism from Oxfam comes as donor nations meet in Geneva on Wednesday to try to increase funding for the quake appeal.

Pakistan estimates the 8 October earthquake killed more than 53,000 people, most of them in the portion of Kashmir it administers.

QUAKE AID PLEDGES TO DATE
UK $17.4m
US $10.8m
Sweden $10.5m
Canada $8.9m
Japan $8m
Netherlands $7.8m
Germany $3.9m
Italy $1.2m
France, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Portugal, Spain - all $0
Source: Oxfam

Some 1,400 people died in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials say.

On the ground, aid officials are warning that more people could die of hunger, cold and injuries than were killed by the earthquake itself.

UN chief aid co-ordinator Rashid Khaliko said the coming winter would cut off many remote communities in the region.

He told reporters in the devastated Kashmiri city of Muzzafarabad that relief workers had until the end of November to get hundreds of thousands of people under shelter, treat the injured and provide food stocks to last the harsh winter.

"The disaster is looming large," Mr Khaliko said. "We have thousands and thousands of very vulnerable people.

"What these communities will have by 1 December is what they will have to live with. It's not much time. We basically have four weeks to deliver."

Oxfam's Policy Director Phil Bloomer said: "The logistical nightmare in Pakistan is bad enough without having to worry about funding shortfalls as well.


HOW TO DONATE

Unicef
www.unicef.org.uk
UNHCR
www.unhcr.ch
Disasters Emergency Committee (UK)
www.dec.org.uk
World Food Programme
www.wfp.org
Kashmir International Relief Fund
www.kirf.org
Red Cross/ Red Crescent
www.icrc.org

Dangers facing survivors

"Governments meeting in Geneva... must put their hands in their pockets and pay their fair share. The public will be shocked that so many rich governments have given so little," he said.

The charity warned that the gap between an emergency appeal being announced and funds actually being received could mean the difference between life and death for many thousands of survivors.

Only about 20% of the money requested in the appeal has actually been given, UN relief agencies estimate.

Oxfam also said current UN plans for a special Global Emergency Fund was seriously underfunded.

The new $1bn (£561m) fund was approved by world leaders in September.

It is supposed to act as a central UN pot of money, which can be handed out in emergencies.

But so far that too had failed to attract a fifth of the funding it needed, Oxfam said.

Earthquake

Over 50,000 now reported dead, perhaps 75,000.

And they say that this crisis is worse than the tsunami, because the situation is worse and people are not getting near the amount of money they need for relief.

Look on the news, is what happened in northern South Asia even on the news anymore?

I don't understand why people are not doing more, and why people care for only a little bit.

I can be so inspired sometimes by what I see, then sometimes I feel so disappointed by people. Or both.

On the news

Anyway, over 40,000 have died now in Pakistan. Do you ever see it mentioned on the news, except for maybe a minute? Even the BBC website has pushed it to the side. 40,000 dead. When the New Orleans disaster happened it got a lot of coverage, although that has also subsided. The earthquake coverage barely lasted a few days. I don't get how people, normal everyday people, can be so indifferent and go about their lives as if nothing has happened. Don't think I feel this way because I'm pakistani (coz I'm not), or that I know people affected by the earthquake (I don't).

Also, look at this.

Was it good for Saddam to be ousted? I don't know, after reading stuff like that. But 100,00-150,000 Iraqis have died. and George Bush calls that freedom, thinks God told him to free the Iraqi people. Its unbelievable for him to say that, let alone believe it.

continued

The last 3 are my cousin Faisal's photos.

PHOTOS!

Ladies and gentleman, Charleston, South Carrroliiinnaaa









The buildings are gonna jump the Ford.