Norway nearly quadruples Pakistan flood aid

[Turborama]

Source: AFP

OSLO: Norway said Sunday it would nearly quadruple its aid to Pakistan to 400 million kroner to help millions of victims of the country's devastating floods.

“The situation is still highly critical for nine million people. We must now show our solidarity with the flood victims,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, who was set to take part in a United Nations-hosted meeting in New York later in the day aimed at securing more aid to Pakistan.

“The Norwegian government is therefore providing additional emergency relief to Pakistan,” he added in a statement, pointing out that the Scandinavian country had already provided 115 million kroner (14.5 million euros/19 million dollars) in aid to the flood-stricken country.

On Friday, the international community appealed for a record two billion dollars in aid for the flood victims. The Pakistan floods are “the worst natural disaster the United Nations has responded to in its 65-year history”, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of the appeal.

Read more: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/03-norway-nearly-quadruples-pakistan-flood-aid-ss-07

[Diclotican]

1. Turborama

Turborama

Yea, and the thanks we got (usaly) is gangs from the pakistani minority , who the last couple of years have even have a shoot out in mainstreet Oslo, something that was some of a shock for most norwigians, and unheard off (most of the pakistanis living in Norway are honest hardworking pepole by the way) and treath of "holly wars" when we do something that araise the extreme groups in Pakistan....

But we have to be good sitizien of the world....

Diclotican

[L.Torsalo]

2. Norway

has been at the forefront of many aid efforts. I salute the people of Norway and their government for working in a true spirit of solidarity with the victims of disasters.
perhaps it would be worth noting that these descendants of the Vikings are the most civilized people on this planet.:)

[Turborama]

3. Nations pledge more in Pakistan flood aid

By ANITA SNOW (AP)

UNITED NATIONS — Nations and groups supporting Pakistan's democratic advances promised Sunday to give the country millions of dollars more in flood aid, but some insisted that Pakistan itself must lead the way on recovery and account publicly for all funds. The new pledges came two days after the U.N. made its largest disaster appeal ever, asking the world's governments to raise a total of $2 billion for Pakistani flood victims.

=snip=

"It's a catastrophe of enormous proportions," Josette Sheeran, executive director of the U.N.'s World Food Program, told The Associated Press before the meeting. "I've never seen a population weaker than this. They already had high levels of malnutrition before the flooding."

Most of the 6 million people the U.N. food agency is trying to feed were agricultural workers who lost their crops and seeds to replant, Sheeran said. Markets were washed away, and farm trade among thousands of villages halted. Sheeran said the WFP is now providing basic food baskets of wheat, oil, sugar, tea and beans to affected families, as well as high-nutrition ready-to-eat date biscuits for adults and a paste made of chickpeas for small children.

During Sunday's high-level ministerial meeting at U.N. headquarters, Britain committed an additional $109 million toward relief efforts, more than doubling the $100 million earlier pledged, and the United States raised its pledge to $345 million. The U.S. total included $75 million that the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Sunday it was giving to the WFP.

Full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEAX03mMvnJC7l45d1ejxXtJ5iQQD9IBCBTG0