GENEVA, Oct 26: Aid agency Oxfam on Wednesday criticised western governments for giving too little too late to quake-stricken Pakistan as donor countries prepared to meet at the United Nations in Geneva to rally rescue efforts.
Oxfam said many rich countries had donated less than what it called their “fair share” and others nothing at all, while thousands of survivors were stranded in some of world’s most rugged mountains without shelter or food as winter approached.
The comments were issued as officials from some 65 countries including the United States, Britain, France and Japan were gathering in Geneva to take stock of Pakistan relief efforts and see how they can be stepped up.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan will address the meeting.
“The logistical nightmare in Pakistan is bad enough without having to worry about funding shortfalls as well,” said Oxfam’s Policy Director Phil Bloomer in a statement aimed at officials attending the conference.
“Governments meeting in Geneva today 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,” Mr Bloomer said.
The Oct. 8 quake is known to have killed at least 53,000 people in Azad Kashmir and the adjoining North West Frontier Province, leaving at least 75,000 seriously injured plus hundreds of thousands more homeless.
Another 1,300 have died and many more were injured or left in Jammu and Kashmir across the Line of Control.
DEATH TRAPS: The United Nations on Tuesday warned of “death traps” forming in the Pakistani areas as blocked roads and a lack of funding hindered relief deliveries to survivors.
According to Oxfam, seven rich countries had so far given nothing to the UN appeal. These were Belgium, France, Austria, Finland, Greece, Portugal and Spain, it said.
Its statement made no mention of the contribution from the European Union — to which all seven belong and which often helps fund emergency disaster relief on behalf of its members.
On Monday, the EU’s executive Commission said it was proposing new contributions from Brussels that would bring the 25-nation body’s total for immediate help to survivors and for rehabilitation and reconstruction to $111.7 million.
Governments that have given less than one fifth of their “fair share”, calculated according to their economic weight, include Japan, Germany, the United States and Italy, Oxfam said.
UN agencies requested a combined $312 million after the quake, a figure that is expected to rise sharply at Wednesday’s conference. As of Tuesday, only $68 million of that has been received in cash, according to UN figures.—Reuters
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