NZ aid agencies join forces in urging Kiwis to support Pakistan relief effort

Wellington, 11 August 2010. – The chief executives of 10 major New Zealand aid agencies are jointly asking Kiwis to dig deep in the face of the huge humanitarian disaster unfolding in Pakistan.

The UN estimates that 14 million people are affected by the floods, including six million children. Described as the worst floods in Pakistan’s history, the emergency is creating urgent needs for shelter, clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, food, and medicine. Millions of people are at increased risk of water-borne diseases such as cholera and diarrhoea.

At a meeting in Wellington today, the chief executives spoke with one voice on the crucial need for New Zealanders to respond generously to this unprecedented disaster.

In terms of total numbers of people affected, the Pakistan emergency eclipses other disasters of recent times such as Haiti and the Boxing Day tsunami.

“Pakistan is an extremely impoverished country, which places the population at increased vulnerability to the impact of natural disasters,” says Dr. Wren Green, Director of the Council for International Development.

“The existing infrastructure and government resources are simply insufficient to cope with a humanitarian crisis of this scale. Pakistan needs help and it needs it now.”

Dr Green says that non-government organisations are all working together on the ground with UN agencies to coordinate the relief effort and ensure that emergency supplies reach those who need them most.

“Kiwis responded generously to victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami – the UN says this disaster is on a bigger scale than that.”

The New Zealand humanitarian agencies responding in Pakistan are: Caritas, Christian World Service, Oxfam New Zealand, Save the Children, TEAR Fund, UNICEF NZ (UN Children’s Fund), and World Vision.

People are asked to donate by contacting one of the aid agencies listed above

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