Muslims donate nearly $1 billion to Pakistan

[Turborama]

Source: AP

ISLAMABAD — Muslim countries, organizations and individuals have pledged nearly $1 billion in cash and relief supplies to help Pakistan respond to the worst floods in the nation's history, the head of a group of Islamic states said. The announcement came as floodwaters inundated a large town in Pakistan and authorities struggled to build new levees with clay and stone to prevent one of the area's biggest cities from suffering the same fate.

Foreign countries have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to help Pakistan cope with the floods, which started a month ago after extremely heavy monsoon rains. But some officials had criticized the Muslim world for not contributing enough.

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the 57-member Organization of The Islamic Conference, likely sought to counter that criticism by announcing Sunday that Muslims have pledged nearly $1 billion. The pledges came from Muslim states, non-governmental organizations, OIC institutions and telethons held in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, he said.

"They have shown that they are one of the largest contributors of assistance both in kind and cash," said Ihsanoglu of the various donors. He spoke during a joint news conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jX_KetVCMo64AOZxSMudPWArFrJgD9HTFHT80

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[OHdem10]

1. Impressive!!!

[madmax]

2. Bet they rebuild faster than NOLA. nt

[dipsydoodle]

3. And the difference here

is that the aid will be real unlike the often mythical promises of the USA et al.

[maxsolomon]

9. and none of that billion will lost to Pakistani graft and corruption

or diverted to the Taliban, and the US helicopters rescuing people and dropping emergency supplies are myths, right?

[OneBlueSky]

4. my local 7-11 is staffed primarily by Pakistanis, and they've put out two donation jars . . .

on the counter to accept contributions for Pakistani flood relief . . . I live in a very conservative community where most people have no use for Obama and where many, I'm sure, listen to Beck and his ilk . . .

interestingly, both jars seem to be filling up, and not just with singles and change . . . I see lots of fives and tens, and even a few twenties . . . I've dropped in a few bucks myself (that I can ill afford), and the clerks seem a bit amazed and very grateful at the response from their customers . . . frankly, so am I . . .

maybe people's better instincts really do kick in when tragedies happen, and maybe the color of the victims' skin, their ethnicity, even their religion aren't all that important to most folks when lives are on the line . . . at least in this instance, that seems to be the case . . .

anyhow, it made my day a little brighter . . . maybe there's hope for humanity yet . . .

[Turborama]

5. Thank you for sharing that

And for your contributions, it's heart warming to hear things like this are happening. I feel bad for you living in a very conservative community but this does show that at least there's some signs of humanity there.

You might find this related article I just came across on the LA Times' website interesting...

Raising awareness of Pakistan's flood victims
By My-Thuan Tran, Los Angeles Times
August 30, 2010

For a disaster that has displaced millions, financial support has lagged behind that offered to victims of Haiti's quake. An Anaheim man and others started their own group, Americans for Flood Relief.

Full piece: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pakistan-aid-20100830,0,3306634.story

:hi:

[zbdent]

6. Hell, that's almost as much as

George W. Bush donated to Halliburton ...

[wookie72]

7. On a cynical note...

I was half listening to a radio show, and I could have sworn somebody said we shouldn't donate to Pakistan because they have nuclear weapons... I hope I was just hearing them wrong.

What I would ask that person is would that mean that no aid should go to New Orleans, or, say, Israel?

[OhioChick]

8. Good point n/t