WATERLOO REGION — In the wake of the devastating floods in Pakistan, many national and international aid agencies are appealing for help, but the response has been relatively moderate.
The president of the Pakistan Canadian Association, Rashid Ahmed, said he is frustrated at the Canadian government’s apparent apathy.
“We are not getting any support,” he said.
Though he acknowledged the $2 million pledged by the federal government, he said that amount is very small. Ahmed said he doesn’t understand the lack of empathy especially compared to the tremendous outpouring of relief efforts to Haiti following that country’s earthquake, which killed an estimated 230,000 people and left about 1 million people without permanent housing. Ottawa committed $220 million to Haiti disaster relief, matching private pledges by Canadians.
In Pakistan about 1,500 people have been killed, and the United Nations estimates another 7 million people are in need of emergency assistance.
On Wednesday, the UN appealed for $460 million to provide immediate help, including food, shelter, clean water, sanitation and health care, to the millions affected.
Ahmed said he has received some support from local charities, like the Mennonite Central Committee, but because they don’t have personnel in Pakistan he is worried that any support they give may be misallocated.
He suggested anyone looking to help avoid donating to organizations associated with the Pakistani government. Instead, giving to local mosques or the society itself or to recognized agencies such as the Red Cross will see the aid go to those who need it.
“We have strong connections to Pakistan,” he said, because so many in the community still have family there and can tell, first-hand, where the help is needed and can send it directly to those areas.
Despite a desire to help, some local charities are not seeing an outpouring of support akin to the relief efforts in Haiti.
Rick Cober Bauman, executive director of the Ontario office of the Mennonite Central Committee, located in Kitchener, said the charity is relying on an existing partnership with the Canadian Food Grains Bank to deliver aid. It has also partnered with Canadian Churches in Action, working with Anglican, Presbyterian and Christian Reformed agencies in an effort to distribute aid.
Mohan Agerwal, a senior visiting fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, said that what little infrastructure to support aid distribution exists is being destroyed as flood waters spread and more rain is forecast.
Naseem Mian, a former president of the Pakistan Canadian Association, is working with the Cambridge Islamic Centre to collect donations.
He said an appeal was made to worshippers at the beginning of the disaster and he plans to seek help from the community again today at the Friday prayer.
Because it is the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, both attendance and donations should be greater than usual. “People are generally more generous in this month,” he said.
The funds raised at the Cambridge Islamic Centre will be taken directly to the Pakistani Consulate in Toronto.
Jorge Heine, a distinguished fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said the lack of public response outside the Islamic community points to a much larger issue.
He said public opinion of the society in the affected areas changes the way the public responds to a crisis. He cited various examples, comparing the responses to the Haiti and Chile earthquakes earlier this year, and listed the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 as an example of enthusiastic aid support.
In Chile, he said there was a sense that even though the earthquake was larger, fewer people were affected and the government was better able to take care of itself. Heine contrasted responses to Sri Lanka, when it was facing internal conflict, to the current response to Pakistan, which is playing a major role in a conflict that is deemed to be against the west.
Because Pakistan has been implicated in the war in Afghanistan — because of its ties to the Taliban — a Heine said the public has a very tainted view of the country.
“Under those circumstances,” he said, “it is not surprising that people are leery of engaging” in fundraising for Pakistan.
“Should it be different? Probably,” said Heine, adding that it is not the victims of the flooding, the poor or the children who are involved in “the shenanigans of the government.”
Nevertheless, he said, this public perception plays a major role in people’s willingness to reach out and support a country, despite the devastation, because feelings about the country are confusing.
Malik said he had also seen people’s opinions concerning the government and politics in Pakistan affect their willingness to help out.
For many though, he said the pictures of the devastation should be enough to forget these political misgivings.
How You Can Help
Locally:
The Red Cross 519-742-2785
Islamic Centre of Cambridge 519-740-6855
Islamic Humanitarian Service 519-576-7111
Nationally:
UNICEF 1-800-567-4483
Save the Children Canada 1-800-668-5036
World Vision Canada 1-866-595-5550
CARE Canada 1-800-267-5232
Doctors Without Borders/Médicins Sans Frontières 1-800-982-7903
Islamic Relief Canada 1-877-370-IRCA (4722)
Islamic Society of North America in Canada 905-403-8406
Internationally:
Pakistan Red Crescent Society