The US Response to the Floods in Pakistan

By Geoffrey Cook, MMNS

Emeryville (Calif.)–As I was disembarking from a twelve-hour red-eye train journey from Southern Oregon, your stringer was handed, a thick packet that was within my past week’s mail from a Ms. Sarah Potts in the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  

The communiqué was a call to organizations and publications (such as the Muslim Observer) that most directly  “talk” to the American Pakistani community and the Islamic community at large on the United States’ efforts regarding  the tragedy and human misery brought on by the Pakistani floods, and how government and its Muslim citizens could support each others’ efforts.

As of August 9th, the American government has pledged $35 million dollars in relief funds.  To update Washington efforts, please navigate to www.usaid.gov– Keyword Pakistan Floods.
USAID recommends making cash donations rather than in kind contributions to legitimate (Islamic) charities and other Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who can purchase the required relief material on the ground.  Names of legitimate groups – Islamic & non-Islamic  non-profits– accepting such contributions can be found at the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) above under the Keyword: Donations.

To quote Sarah Potts:  “…Cash donations allow disaster relief professionals to procure the exact commodities needed…locally…[thereby]…reduce the burden on resources …in [a] disaster [zone]…[also] support the economy of the…stricken region; and ensure dietary and environmentally appropriate assistance.”

More information on making donations can be found at the Center for International Disaster Information (www.cidi.org) or (703) 276-1914; Information to the humanitarian community (including the Islamic)  is found at www.relefweb.int.

12-34