Pakistan floods:Oxfam Reaction to Visit by European Humanitarian Commissioner
August 26th, 2010 by Tahseen Alam Posted in Climate change, General, In the news, Pakistan | No Comments »Flood-affected areas now constitute the world’s largest freshwater lake, says Oxfam
Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, today visited Pakistan to see the effect of the devastating floods on the country. More than 17 million people are now affected by the floods, with nearly 1600 people killed and millions made homeless.
Neva Khan, Oxfam’s Country Director in Pakistan, said: “We welcome the Commissioner’s visit and hope she will return to Brussels with a renewed sense of urgency about what is needed here in Pakistan.
“This is rapidly becoming the world’s largest freshwater lake – swallowing up the equivalent of an area the size of Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. And it keeps spreading. The EU has been generous to this point of the crisis but the flood waters keep rising – engulfing more land and displacing more people. Each day there is more human need, higher risk of disease – and a patently obvious case for faster and significantly greater volume of aid.
“The original emergency relief plan for Pakistan was based on the needs of six million people in direct need of assistance. There are now up to ten million people who urgently need our help. The UN is now planning to revise the emergency appeal – which will require the European donors to increase their share of the contributions to meet the emergency and the longer term needs of the Pakistani people.
“The EU Foreign Ministers are due to meet in Brussels on 10 September where the plight of Pakistan will be high on their agenda. We hope the EU will continue to show leadership in delivering real and sustained support to the Pakistani people – now and in the future.”



