News & Views

Vital flood relief efforts for five million people affected by floods in Pakistan's south could be cut because of a shortfall of foreign donations, international aid groups have warned. Less than a third, about 27 per cent, of a $357m floods appeal by the United Nations for 2011 has so far been met. Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE, and the umbrella group the Agency for Technical Co-operation and Development (ACTED), have all urged donors to give more or see aid work grind to a halt. Supplies of clean water, sanitation, food, shelter and healthcare are all under severe threat, and impoverished farmers in the province of Sindh face losing most of their winter crops, with cold weather setting in. The province was already reeling from last year's floods, the worst in Pakistani history, when this year's deluge hit. 'Unimaginable catastrophe' Neva Khan, Oxfam's country director in Pakistan, said: "Over two months into the crisis, millions of people are still without basics. If relief operations stop, it could lead to an unimaginable catastrophe. "With winter approaching fast, millions of people who are still without shelter will be left out in the cold. "We urgently need to see the same donor generosity and giving that took place last year during the floods. "We [Oxfam] have sufficient resources to continue operations [in eight districts of Sindh] until December, but we are very concerned about the situation post-December," she told Al Jazeera.