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Donor fatigue numbs response to huge quake in strategic Pakistan


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By John Metzler
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM

Friday, October 21, 2005

UNITED NATIONS — The terrible earthquake which jolted and smashed the mountainous region of Kashmir, may have political and economic reverberations well beyond South Asia. The 7.6 quake on the Richter scale whose epicenter hit the Pakistani parts of Kashmir has both figuratively and literally shattered lives and political attitudes along the militarized line of control dividing the rugged region between Pakistan and India.

The Muslim majority area, still an unsettled legacy from the partition of India and Pakistan, has been the flashpoint for wars between the neighbors. Just a few years ago, Pakistan and India — now both nuclear armed — stood on the brink and were only pulled back by common sense and deft American diplomacy.

The quake described aptly by the Economist of London as a “The mountain Tsunami--a region long tormented by man made conflict suffers natural catastrophe.”

Despite the horrors of 50,000 dead, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warns that “ a second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now.” Earlier, Annan called for the global relief effort to be increased to help three million people made homeless by the 8 October quake and who face a brutal Himalayan winter without shelter.

UN Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, views the aid effort as a logistical nightmare; adding that of the assistance sent “This is not enough. We have never had this kind of logistical nightmare ever. We thought the tsunami was the worst we could get. This is worse.” He called for a massive Berlin airlift- type operation where streams of cargo planes and helicopters kept up an air bridge to the remote region as the only alternative to help survivors.

Naturally all eyes look to the USA and NATO. The United Nations refugee agency has begun its first ever joint large-scale airlift with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Flights have taken off from Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey with more than 25 tons of desperately needed supplies, the start of an air bridge that will fly 860 tons of humanitarian assistance from the UN.

The world has sadly reached what aid officials often hesitatingly describe as donor fatigue — too much crisis, too many demands, tune out! Tragic but true.

Look at the litany of recent disasters. Earlier this year the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean swamped Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Hundreds of thousands died from the tidal wave prompted by an undersea earthquake. The U.S., Canada and the European Union came to the rescue with extraordinary swiftness and open hearts.

Just last month — America’s Gulf Coast was slammed by the “perfect storm” Hurricane Katrina — Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama suffered immeasurable loss and its people, terrible dislocation. Then there was Rita. Now there’s Wilma. Donors have opened their hearts and wallets to the victims in the Gulf, as they should, but the list goes on.

Just weeks ago terrible storms and mudslides wreaked havoc in Central America. In this missive I won’t even discuss the famines stalking many parts of Africa and the regime inflicted man-made catastrophes in places like Darfur in Sudan or Zimbabwe.

Donor fatigue from governments and private individuals has sadly numbed response to the Kashmir quake.

So too has been the off-balance government response from Pakistan who has had to rely on the global community to sort things out. Tragically Islamic extremists have used this tragic “opportunity” to bring aid and assistance to remote towns and villages — often a step ahead of officialdom. Tents are in short supply and desperately needed — this ironically in a county which is the world’s major producer of tents!

Despite so much of the disingenuous prattle against America in the Islamic world, the USA has responded decisively and quickly — largely owing to the proximity of military assets in nearby Afghanistan. The generous American response in Pakistan’s relief efforts is eagerly accepted by most in the region.

For the past half century, the proud people of Kashmir — divided between Pakistan and India — have oft been seen in both Islamabad and New Delhi as political pawns. The issue of self-determination has been subsumed in a wider discussion of which “side” they are on, or belong to. In the aftermath of the quake, new political dynamic may emerge between the long estranged neighbors Pakistan and India as well as among Kashmiri people on both sides of the divide.

Given the singular importance of Pakistan in the wider war on Islamic fundamentalist terrorism, it’s crucial for the U.S. to view this relief effort as both humanitarian as well as part of wider national security strategy.

John J. Metzler is a U.N. correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He writes weekly for World Tribune.com.




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