Remember the Haiti earthquake? Remember the nonstop pictures and how the Governments around the World all got together and pledged money to rebuild the stricken country?
Care to hazard a guess at how much of the £3.4bn pledged has actually manifested itself?
That paltry figure would be £345m and that's come from just 5 countries, Brazil, Norway, Estonia, Australia and Colombia. Maybe the big countries just forgot to post the cheque.
Now we have another disaster in Pakistan and poor Haiti is forgotten and instead we watch Pakistanis wading waist high through polluted water, 20 million of them now homeless.
Problem is, money is a bit tight at the moment for the rich nations, only £96m has been pledged in response to a UN appeal for the £295m it states it urgently needs and £12m of that has come from public donations to DEC.
David Cameron labelling Pakistan as an exporter of terrorism weeks earlier hasn't help spread public sympathy.
Its neighbour, superpower wannabe India, had to be shamed into pledging £3.2m, China, initially offered £960,000, has now raised its contribution to £4.6m.
The USA is the top giver with a £60m pledge followed by the UKs £31m.
So why has their been a lukewarm reception to the images of people dying in Pakistan rather than when they died in Haiti or Indonesia?
"A lack of celebrity involvement has kept the flood disaster off many would-be givers' radar" said the Center for Global Development.
The people of Pakistan had better hope that Lady Gaga or Simon Cowell pop up on our screen soon although i wouldn't be holding my breath that a pledge from the world governments actually turns into a donation.
3 comments:
Hanz, I guess I have a bone to pick with this post.
"That paltry figure would be £345m and that's come from just 5 countries, Brazil, Norway, Estonia, Australia and Colombia. Maybe the big countries just forgot to post the cheque."
I really don't know where you get your information, but it is flat out wrong, and I have to say that as an American, I'm insulted. First of all we rolled in our military at ZERO cost to the Haitians (of course) and stabilized the situation by providing peacekeeping and infrastructure repairs. We then, contrary to numnuts in Australia's claim, had the military LEAVE the country instead of invading Venezuela or other such nonsense. The link below details how much money has been spent just by the government in fiscal 2010, which ends next month. This doesn't include scores of private relief agencies that have been funded by the generosity of the American people. I do realize that our politics might differ on occasion, but I really don't see the need to bash America over this issue.
http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/haiti/template/fs_sr/fy2010/haiti_eq_fs63_07-16-2010.pdf
Oh, and by the way, U.S. disaster relief teams are already on the ground in Pakistan helping the people.
Pakistan aid information
http://www.usaid.gov/pk/
My source was a BBC current affairs show reporting on what Bill Clinton said to CNN Cody. A link is here:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/07/14/haiti.donations/index.html#fbid=h4_sGnUJ5RX&wom=false
If you disagree, blame Bill.
i dont see why it is shameful.
1. how am i indebted to people that i don't even know?
2. how am i indebted to people that don't care about me?
as a christian i beleive that i should help others, but then i have people tell me everyday that christians suck. so, if my christianity sucks then why feel a sense of debt and why feel shame?
q
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