Musharraf rescues 50,000 flood victims. (The US economy is roughly 30x the size in GDP)

[Flabbergasted]

(At this rate we should have been able to evacuate vitually all of NO beforehand.)


Pakistan Army Completes 995 Relief Sorties in Flood-hit Areas
'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau

ISLAMABAD: As many as 130 C-130 aircraft of PAF and 865 sorties of Army Aviation helicopters have been flown to provide relief to two million affectees of 5,000 villages in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

Army medical teams, Army Aviation helicopters and troops of Army Engineers are working to provide relief to the affectees of the flood hit areas and restore communication infrastructure, badly affected due to flash floods.

In Sindh, 1,422 villages have been affected. District Kamber is the worst hit area in Sindh where Army troops along with civil administration are providing relief to the affected people.

Road communication in most parts of Balochsitan has been restored by Army Engineers and Frontier Works Organization.

Army helicopters have also rescued 160 persons including six foreigners in various sorties carried out in flood-hit parts of Sindh. Those foreigners who were rescued included, three Chinese, two Omanese and one Malaysian and were stranded in floodwater in district Kamber.

Minister for water and power Liaquat Ali Jatoi said 25,000 bags of ration have been dispatched to the affected areas.

50,000 Rescued

Another report says that Pakistan Army Troops continued their uninterrupted efforts on Monday to provide relief and rescue to the people suffering in flood hit areas of Balochistan and Sindh.

Since the start of operations, 117 sorties of PAF C-130 aircraft and 861 sorties of Army Aviation helicopters have flown to provide relief to people of flood affected areas.

Over 50,000 affected people have been rescued by Pakistan Army Troops so far. During the operation 1,782 tons of rations, 12,840 tents, 21,558 water bottles, 1,759 cartons of medicine and 7,352 blankets have been distributed in flood affected areas of Balochistan to date.

With the dedicated endeavours of Pakistan Army engineers and FWO, complete Makran Coastal, Karachi-Kalat-Quetta-Chamman, Lakpass-Dalbandin-Taftan and Sukkur-Sibbi-Quetta highways remain operational.

Further, Surab-Hoshab and Peshawar-Torkham section of GT road are also clear and trafficable for all types of vehicles.

Pakistan Army distributed 7.15 tons of rations, tents, mineral water and blankets in Kambar.

Moreover, 12 trucks containing 1,306 ration packs, 71 cartons of mineral water, 129 bags of rice, 2,724 packets of Ghee, candles and 183 cartons of clothes were distributed in Shahdadkot for flood affected people.

Relief by USAID

Meanwhile, according to another report humanitarian assistance and emergency relief initiative of $390,000 from USAID has provided relief to communities affected by cyclone Yemyin that hit Balochistan and Sindh provinces earlier this month.

Funded by U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and U.S. Ambassador’s Emergency Fund, emergency kits are being provided by international non-governmental organization, Mercy Corps, to over 11,000 households in districts Bolan, Lasbela, Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad of Balochistan.

“It was important for the U.S. to have made this grant to Mercy Corps soon after Cyclone Yemyin hit Pakistan to ease the suffering of those who had lost family members, property, and livelihoods and to provide some hope,” said Anne Aarnes, USAID/Pakistan Mission Director.

More than 3,470 family kits containing food and non-food items had been distributed in Balochistan assisting 25,000 people. An estimated 7,530 more kits will be distributed through this week.

Dee Goluba, Operations Manager of Mercy Corps’ Global Response Team said, “This assistance along with other programs is providing tools and supplies that will help restore a sense of normality to the families.”

Family kits were designed with suggestions from the affected families in Balochistan. Each kit is valued at approximately $30 and includes basic supplies such as rice, oil, daal, salt, spices, gram, gur, sugar, medicines, and water.

Meanwhile, relief workers have noted hundreds of communities still living on roadsides and in public spaces on higher ground.

http://www.pakistantimes.net/2007/07/17/top7.htm

[Kagemusha]

1. Unlike Bush, Musharraf's survival in power may depend on this.

So Musharraf had a lot of incentive to move heaven and earth. Or 50,000 people, which probably felt like the same thing to the people involved.

[Flabbergasted]

2. excellent point

[elehhhhna]

3. Plus we paid for their evacuation :

US renting Pak army for $ 100 million a month
US renting Pak army for $ 100 million a month
14 Jul 2007, 0340 hrs IST,CHIDANAND RAJGHATTA,TNN
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WASHINGTON: The United States is paying around $ 100 million a month for the deployment of 80,000 Pakistani troops on its border with Afghanistan ostensibly for the war on terrorism, a key US official revealed on Thursday.

The money is meant to be "reimbursements" to Pakistan "for stationing troops and moving them around, and gasoline, and bullets, and training and other costs that they incur as part of the war on terror," US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, told a Congressional panel.

"That's a lot of money," Boucher admitted before the panel about what amounts to a $ 1.2 billion per year reimbursement. "I don't know if it comes to the whole amount of their expenses, but we support their expenses, yes."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1376648&mesg_id=1376699