A prominent member of Dundee’s Pakistani community has pleaded with people to donate generously to help victims of the floods that have devastated the country.
Dundee Islamic Society president Bashir Chohan made the appeal after it emerged the amount of money given to the flood’s disaster aid fund is far lower than has been stumped up for past crises.
The DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal has received around £9.5m and the international community has pledged far less than it did to help following other disasters, such as the earthquake in Haiti earlier this year.
Mr Chohan said the Islamic society has collected around £2500 to date from donations made at the Central Mosque but urged people to continue to contribute.
He said, “It’s the biggest devastation going on just now millions of people have had to leave their homes and don’t know when they are going to get back.
“These people are just sitting in fields with nowhere to go. This is the biggest international disaster taking place right now.”
Mr Chohan said previous appeals had pulled in tens of thousands of pounds, adding he thought people might not realise how serious the disaster in Pakistan is just now.
Around 1600 people have been killed because of the flooding thought to have affected about 14 million in total and both of these figures are expected to rise in the coming days.
Pakistan’s federal flood commission estimated that 300,000 homes have been destroyed or seriously damaged so far and 2.6m acres of croplands submerged.
“I think people don’t realise how bad it is. It runs from one end of Pakistan to the other and as well as the humanitarian loss there are people losing their homes,” said Mr Chohan.
Oxfam has also appealed for people to put their hand in their pocket to help victims, which has now moved south to the Sindh province and destroyed hundreds of villages.
The charity’s disasters emergency committee chief executive Brendan Gormley said, “The response from the public has been overwhelming, particularly given the economic climate at the moment.
“People have been very generous and are continuing to donate which will really help to ease the plight of those affected.
“However, the scale of the disaster is vast and we’re appealing for more funds to ensure we can reach those most in need.
“With monsoon rains continuing, the situation for millions of people in Pakistan is going to get worse before it gets better.
“We still need people to keep giving because the flood waters are still spreading fast and continuing to affect millions of people.”
Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user DVIDSHUB.