1/3 of Pakistan is submerged - 6 million need immediate aid

[ninakat]

6 Million Pakistanis need Immediate Aid as 1/3 of Country is Submerged

By Juan Cole

August 12, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- I can barely believe the words I am writing are not a nightmare from which I will soon wake up.

A third of Pakistan is now under water, and fresh rainfall threatens two more waves of flooding in the southern Sindh province.



The submerged area of the country is as big as the United Kingdom!

14 million Pakistans have been affected.

2 million have been made altogether homeless.

6 million people are in need of immediate help.

(more, including videos)

[seemslikeadream]

Pakistan says 20m hit by floods


convenient timing for Pakistan's enemies

[Nordic]

It must suck to be a Pakistani right now. If you survive the floods, you might be blown to bits by an American drone.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=13 ... =351020401

US drone strike kills 13 in Pakistan

[seemslikeadream]

a guy on my TV (thisweek) this morning said the flooding could be the last straw to Pakistani failed state, how very convenient for Their enemies



am I correct Pakistan is the only Muslim country to have the bomb? oh yea how very very convenient for their enemies.


I'm starting to wonder if Pakistan wasn't the ultimate target all along

BTW

"Pakistan is the only country in the world where the al-Qaida, the Taliban, and the nuclear bomb exist within a radius of 100 kilometers

[Alaya]

Am thinking the very same thing, slad.

[seemslikeadream]

Am thinking the very same thing, slad.

and then there's this from Bruce

Tsunami bomb: NZ's devastating war secret

[The Hundredth Idiot]

Goddamn that's a lot a water!
Poor bastards, just seen in the paper a photo of two people floating down a river on the back of a half drowned cow, and OB is still sending in the drones!? Fuckin disgusting.
Unfortunately most people I've mentioned the floods to dont give a rats arse, the zombie state of "That'll flush out the terrorists" has taken hold of most people. A truly appalling lack of humanity these days...

I wonder who monitors HAARP shit on that side of the world?
I remember hearing about giant freak thunderstorms reeking havoc in Kosovo back in 99' as NATO was invading, seems to be a favored tactic.
Apparently the latest weather engineering tech operates somewhere in orbit...far easier to beam directly into the ionosphere up there, maybe it's no longer monitorable at all, I dont know!
Whatever it is, its fucked up!!

[ninakat]

UN Chief Ban Ki-Moon: Pakistan Floods Are Worst Disaster I've Ever Seen
AP/Huffington Post First Posted: 08-15-10 04:57 PM | Updated: 08-16-10 02:00 PM

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday he has never seen anything like the flood disaster in Pakistan after surveying the devastation and urged foreign donors to speed up assistance to the 20 million people affected.

Ban's comments reflect the concern of the international community about the unfolding disaster in Pakistan, which is battling al-Qaida and Taliban militants, has a weak and unpopular government, and an anemic economy propped up by international assistance.

"This has been a heart-wrenching day for me," Ban said after flying over the hard-hit areas with President Asif Ali Zardari. "I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this."

Ban visited Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country in May 2008, killing an estimated 138,000 people. He also flew to China's Sichuan province just days after an earthquake killed nearly 90,000 people in March 2008.

Australia's ABC news reported that Ban was visibly shaken:

"The magnitude of the problem; the world has never seen such a disaster. It's much beyond anybody's imagination," he said.
"This is a long-term affair; this is a two-year campaign. We have to consider that and keep that in mind.

"For two years we've got to give them crops, fertilisers; we've got to give them seed; we've got to look after them, feed them, for two years, to bring them back to where they were. And they will still not be where they were."

. . .

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

But the CIA-media is deflecting attention to save our emotional buttons for gay marriage and 9/11 anniversary agitprop.

> The front-page-above-the-fold picture of the CIA-NYTimes was of a guy peacefully floating by himself in a boat vacationing.
> The front-page-above-the-fold picture of the CIA-SFChronicle was of a sea otter peacefully floating on its back looking exactly like the NYTimes guy.
>>>This is also dehumanization, "brown animals live in water."

These are examples of presenting competing associations with keywords, images, and themes as counterpropaganda.

[Allegro]

.
Pakistan's Predicament | An Environmental and Humanitarian Crisis
Coupled with a Staggering Foreign Debt

Global Research | August 28, 2010
by Damien Millet, Sophie Perchellet, and Eric Toussaint

Because of torrential rains lasting several days Pakistan is facing one of the worst predicaments in human and material terms for the last 80 years. The damage inflicted is stunning. About 22 million people are affected by the floods. Many infrastructures have been unable to withstand the onslaught of rain. Roads and harbours can no longer be used. Millions of people have had to leave their houses, and the UN estimates that there are 5 million left homeless. Makeshift refugee camps have been set up, and some 1 million people already live there in disgraceful sanitary conditions. The south of the country, and more particularly the province of Snidh, has been badly shaken by this catastrophe. Economic losses amount to billions with the farming industry severely hit, large tracts of farmland having been destroyed.

Pakistan needs help. On 20 August 2010, UN member countries committed to giving USD 200 million, but this was a mere promise, and past experience has taught us that only a limited portion will actually reach the country. The Asian Development Bank, which was to manage the consequences of the December 2004 tsunami, declared that it would lead the reconstruction effort in Pakistan and already announced a USD 2 billion loan. The World Bank added a loan of USD 900 million. Deeply damaged by a natural catastrophe, Pakistan now has to face a significant increase in its debt.

While emergency aid is essential, we have to consider what is at stake in Pakistan. In August 2008 the country was close to defaulting. Compelled to accept the help of the IMF, it has received so far a total of 11.3 billion dollars in loans with particularly harsh conditionalities: the sale of a million hectares of farmland, an end to government subsidies on fuel, an increase in the price of electricity, drastic cuts in social expenditures, etc. Only the military budget has been spared. Finally this loan has made living conditions even more difficult while jeopardizing the country’s sovereignty.

Today Pakistan’s external debt amounts to 54 billion dollars with 3 billion paid back every year. This debt, which exploded after 2000, is largely odious. The former regime of General Pérez Musharraf was a strategic ally of the US in the region, particularly after 9/11. Major creditors never baulked at granting Musharraf the funds he needed to pursue his policies. In the fall of 2001 the US asked for Pakistan’s support in its war against Afghanistan. Musharraf had accepted that his country be used as a support base for US troops and those of its allies. Later the Musharraf regime contracted more debts, with the active help of the World Bank and major powers. The loans granted have no legitimacy: they were used to buttress Musharraf’s dictatorship and did not improve the living conditions of the Pakistani people. The debt contracted by this dictatorial regime is odious. Creditors were aware of the situation when they granted their loans, and given these facts it is outrageous that the Pakistani people be made to pay for the odious debt contracted by Musharraf.

In such circumstances outright cancellation of the debt is a minimum demand. As Ecuador did in 2007-2008, several countries have now carried out an audit of their debts in order to cancel their odious parts. Pakistan can and should follow such an example.

Another legal mechanism of non-payment should be taken into account in this country devastated by floods - namely the state of necessity. In this context it can claim that funds must be used to meet vital needs and not to repay its debt, without being sued for reneging on its commitments. The potential savings of three billions dollars could then be used for social expenditures to help the population.

It is therefore high time for the government of Pakistan to suspend payment of its external debt, to carry out an audit of the same, and to decide on a repudiation of the part of it that is odious. Far from being an end in itself, these measures should be a first step towards a radically different model of development based at long last on a guarantee of fundamental human rights.

Translated from the French original.

Damien Millet is spokesperson for CADTM France (Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt) — Sophie Perchellet is vice-president of CADTM France — Eric Toussaint is president of CADTM Belgique. Latest publication: La crise, quelles crises ? , CADTM/Aden/CETIM, December 2009.

[Alfred Joe's Boy]

I wonder who monitors HAARP shit on that side of the world?

What is HAARP? – Videos, Photos and three short articles
http://www.pakalertpress.com/2010/08/29 ... -articles/

Home Page: http://www.pakalertpress.com/

[tron]

so where are all the disaster capitalists this time?

[norton ash]

so where are all the disaster capitalists this time?

Making deals to rebuild in boardrooms in London, Bombay, Shanghai, NYC. It's too disastrous for them to head to Pakistan right now. There'll be Gucci boots on the ground when the waters subside, the decent hotels have some space, and the stench has subsided.

[Allegro]

— Axis of Logic Special Report —

Pakistan: The Floods and the People
By Shahid R. Siddiqi | Monday, Aug 30, 2010

includes photo essay

Axis of Logic Columnist, Shahid R. Saddiqi wrote us a letter and sent us these photos to us from Pakistan, calling them “a glimpse into the devastation caused and the poor people’s struggle to hang on to life.” Torrential rains in these areas of Pakistan have caused the most severe flooding in 80 years. Shahid tells us of the magnitude of these catastrophic floods which continue today and the immeasurable cost to the people of Pakistan:

“I returned to Lahore in early August. Pakistan was hot, very hot, with temperatures hitting 48-50 (118-122 F) degrees when I arrived. And then started rains which caused floods, the likes of which have never ever been recorded in the history of this region. The five main rivers that originate in the north and join together at different points to form the famous Indus that runs about 1500 miles through the center of the country until it falls in the Arabian Sea - all boiled over. So is the case with smaller rivers and hill torrents in the north. Some say the disaster is bigger than tsunami and Haiti put together and it has not stopped yet. The rains and floods continue unabated.

“About 20 million people have become IDPs (internally displaced persons) and thousands have lost their lives. Infrastructure and rural housing damage is colossal. Millions of cattle heads were swept away or have died. Thousands of acres of cotton, cereal and other crops stand under water and are destroyed. Pakistan has the biggest irrigation canal system in Asia, perhaps the world. Most canals are breached and have overflowed. Pakistan’s agriculture, its mainstay, will take years to recover with food shortages haunting in the meantime. Disease is spreading fast.

“The government, inefficient and corrupt as it is, stands by and watches helplessly, knowing not where or how to begin. The army on its own has silently taken over the rescue and relief work and has won acclaim for the organized manner in which it is undertaking it. The task is humongous. The politicians are under intense fire for their failure to meet the challenge. There is a huge chaos. No body knows how the next phase of rehabilitation will begin because of the acute shortage of resources.”

[As seen on the original page, these are the
first of 24 photos taken by NGO photographers.]

[smiths]

i just cant believe people are thinking about 20 million displaced Pakistanis,

havent any of you heard about the cricket scandal, those Paki buggers are ruining the game