Following criticism from relief agencies and from Britain, more countries have pledged money or increased pledges, including France, Germany and Japan among the G7 richest nations. The World Bank is to lend $900m to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding. The UN appealed last week for $459 million for immediate relief efforts. It has received 40 percent about $184 million of that so far, said Maurizio Giuliano, a U.N. spokesman. An additional $43 million has been pledged. But the UN says international aid has been slow and that it has raised only a third of the $460m needed for emergency relief. Pakistan's High Commissioner to Britain Wajid Shamsul Hasan said that it would take at least five years for the country to recover, and put the reconstruction bill at more than $10 to $15bn. Maurizio Giuliano, of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), warned that Pakistan would face a second wave of deaths from water-borne diseases and food shortages unless more aid arrived soon. He estimated the number of people at risk from such diseases is six million. Tim Irwin, a spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, said the water is receding in some areas, but that this created new problems for the flood survivors. Youve got stagnant water, youve got farmland which cant be used, peoples homes have been either damaged or destroyed, he said. But in certain areas, particularly in the southern Sindh the flood waters continue. The Indus River is continuing to spill over its banks and its affecting tens of thousands of people. Impoverished Afghanistan on Tuesday donated one million dollars to help the victims of unprecedented floods in Pakistan, an official said. Finance minister Hazrat Omar Zakhailwal handed a cheque to Pakistani ambassador Mohammad Sadiq at the end of a press conference in Kabul. Saudi Arabia has raised 20.5 million dollars in aid on the first day of a national campaign for flood-striken Pakistan, state news agency SPA said Tuesday. Japan has pledged an additional sum of up to 10 million dollars in emergency aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan. Australia on Tuesday pledged an extra 24 million dollars (21.6 million US) in aid to help Pakistan cope with devastating floods, after urgent pleas from Islamabad and the United Nations. Anne Patterson, the US ambassador to Pakistan, said Tuesday that America had committed at least $87 million in aid and expected to give more in the coming days. The German Government decided to substantially increase its assistance for the flood relief activities in Pakistan to Euro 15 million, equivalent to about $20 million. France decided on Monday to send more humanitarian aid to flood-ravaged Pakistan, in response to an urgent call for help from both Pakistan and the United Nations. France has already pledged 10.5 million euros in aid to Pakistan. Canada has announced it is providing up to 33 million dollars (32 million US) in urgent aid for victims of Pakistan's historic floods. The Disasters Emergency Committee has announced today that their appeal for people affected by the Pakistan floods has raised 15 million. The DEC consists of Action Aid, Age UK, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International UK, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.
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