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UN analysis of Pakistan floods

It has been claimed that, although the death rate is relatively low the number of people affected in the disaster that has overwhelmed Pakistan is more than the Asian tsunami, the Haiti earthquake and the Kashmir earthquake combined.
 
From the latest UN briefing:
 

MORE THAN 14 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED BY PAKISTAN FLOODING

  • The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that more than 14 million people – almost one in every 10 Pakistanis - have so far been affected by the flooding in that country. At least 1,200 people have been killed.  The monsoon season could last for at least another month, worsening the flooding that has been seen so far, including in parts of country not so far affected.
     

  • The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that at least 6 million people are currently in desperate need of emergency aid. The priorities for the response are food, clean drinking water, tents and other shelter and non-food items, and medical supplies.
     

  • The initial floods emergency response plan launched yesterday requests $460 million to help address the needs of flood-affected families for the immediate relief period. We will be revising the appeal in 30 days, to include early recovery requirements and to reflect more refined needs assessments.
     

  • Asked about UN efforts to motivate Governments to contribute aid to Pakistan, the Spokesperson noted the presentation of the response plan by Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes on Wednesday, which attracted widespread media coverage. The Secretary-General, he said, has been working continuously to raise attention to the catastrophe in Pakistan and will continue to do so.

 

The charade of airport security

I had forgotten that leaving the USA can be even more stressful than entering. To be honest, my entry at Newark could not have been smoother.  The queues were short and the Immigration Officer was curious, though polite, about my reasons for visiting Mozambique in the past and now living in Islamabad.

 

Dulles Airport in DC was heaving as I arrived for my departure. I should have checked in online but negotiated the extraordinarily inefficient check-in system for United Airlines and headed off in search of the departure gates, confident that my Business Class seat would see me quickly through security to the lounge. Ha! The ‘premium’ queue was slightly shorter than coach class but still snaked across the vast hall for 45 minutes. Wearing my Gold Membership badge of the Institute of Customer Service my initial thought was that American customer service is not what it used to be. It reminded me of Gatwick when the security staff are ‘working to rule’.

 

It’s been hot and humid in Washington and my imagination wandered. What is the purpose of these security checks? Small bottles of liquids have to be put in a separate plastic bag. Why is that?  If you leave them in your bag they are invisible to the x-ray machine provided there is no aerosol or other metal part. In other words all this charade with plastic bags is to reassure travellers just how strict are the security measures in place for their benefit.

 

I looked around me, counting the number of passengers in each column.  There must have been over 1000 standing in the hall awaiting security clearance. What a wonderful target for a terrorist! No doubt all of us have already been profiled by CCTV as we stroll around the airport and enter the queue for security. I sincerely hope so, anyway. If so, the x-ray machines and metal detectors are all part of the charade.  If not, it is a terrorist incident waiting to happen.

The fragility of overseas life

Our family life is complicated as it is. With two homes to look after, a daughter at university and two sons at boarding school Sally and I frequently find ourselves on different continents in different timezones. She rightly prioritises being home in England for school holidays whereas I have to earn our keep. We were all together in our home in Sussex over Easter, until the younger son, Peter, decided to visit his friends in Budapest. He was due to return yesterday and then go back to school tomorrow. Sally would then fly back to Islamabad to join me after the weekend.

That was until Eyjafjallajoekull blew its top.  Or is it Grímsvötn?  Two different BBC articles give it different names.  Not that it really matters: my English tongue can't work out how to wrap itself around either.  Easyjet sent me an e-mail informing me of the cancellation of Peter's flight and offering either to rebook him or a refund.  I clicked on 'rebook' but the earliest I could get was the following Friday, which would involve missing a week of school, so I booked a flight on Malév on Wednesday. Then I went back to Easyjet's e-mail and clicked 'refund'.  I spent the next hour or so trying to locate the online refund form. I clicked on 'email us' which only offered standard messages like: My flight is cancelled and I want a refund, which they know already. "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  Maybe there's also no such thing as a cheap airline. The beginning of our trip to the UK before Easter included a week in Sicily for Sally and me which was fine apart the return flight being disrupted by the BA strike. I have an increasing list of airlines that I will think twice about using.

Meanwhile I have a colleague from London staying with me in Islamabad. Gail has coped with a busy programme whilst suffering from a gastric bug and was glad to be flying home yesterday. It now looks as though the earliest she will fly is Tuesday. According to the BBC the airlines are losing £130m a day. That does not include the costs to other businesses in the airline industry, let alone the opportunity costs of busy travellers who find their schedules disrupted. Gail's trip to Istanbul next week is now almost certainly cancelled. What impact will this natural crisis have on the world economy, I wonder?

Thoughts on the kidnap of a 5-year old in Jhelum, Pakistan

"They took my son. They were fully loaded with guns and hand grenades. All Pakistan police know about this, and the British Council".  It was that quote from the UK Press Association (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hi4ksQXtPVQRbBjRKRJs8poAhyxA) that first awakened me to this story.  The same quote also appeared online in the Sheffield Telegraph, The Independent and the BBC. It was obviously a misunderstanding of the father's quote: he meant the British Consul. (The British Consul is responsible for heping British citizens abroad and, in my experience, often does some heroic deeds on their behalf.  The British Council is the UK's cultural relations organisation, for which I work.  Confusing, but we've had the name long enough for it to be a recognisable world brand.)
 
What sort of terrorist or criminal is callous enough to kidnap a 5-year old child, I wonder? Kidnaps are usually carried out to order and are carefully-planned in advance.  The victim needs to be captured with the minimum fuss and handed on to the client as quickly as possible, perhaps via a number of intermediaries to minimise the risk of being traced.  This would not appear to be the case here.  The family were abused and robbed at gunpoint before the criminals fled with the child. They have since issued a ransom demand of £100,000.
 
The international press attention is probably not helping the police and security services to do their job. Rehman Malik, Minister of the Interior has waded in with comments worthy of a politician and sacked four police officers because the police did not respond fast enough to the Rescue 15 (emergency) call. All this attention does no good.  Kidnappers work from two general motives - money or the promotion of a cause. Press attention has the impact of either raising the value of the victim or drawing attention to the cause. It has benefits as well, forcing the police to pursue the rescue of the victim with some vigourin the full glare of the international media. The natural revulsion that this case causes helps to ensure that it is an embarrassment that is taken seriously by the security services. Let's pray that it doesn't contribute to a very sad ending for young Saahil and his family.

Thoughts on the kidnap of a 5-year old in Jhelum, Pakistan

"They took my son. They were fully loaded with guns and hand grenades. All Pakistan police know about this, and the British Council".  It was that quote from the UK Press Association (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hi4ksQXtPVQRbBjRKRJs8poAhyxA) that first awakened me to this story.  The same quote also appeared online in the Sheffield Telegraph, The Independent and the BBC. It was obviously a misunderstanding of the father's quote: he meant the British Consul. (The British Consul is responsible for heping British citizens abroad and, in my experience, often does some heroic deeds on their behalf.  The British Council is the UK's cultural relations organisation, for which I work.  Confusing, but we've had the name long enough for it to be a recognisable world brand.)
 
What sort of terrorist or criminal is callous enough to kidnap a 5-year old child, I wonder? Kidnaps are usually carried out to order and are carefully-planned in advance.  The victim needs to be captured with the minimum fuss and handed on to the client as quickly as possible, perhaps via a number of intermediaries to minimise the risk of being traced.  This would not appear to be the case here.  The family were abused and robbed at gunpoint before the criminals fled with the child. They have since issued a ransom demand of £100,000.
 
The international press attention is probably not helping the police and security services to do their job. Rehman Malik, Minister of the Interior has waded in with comments worthy of a politician and sacked four police officers because the police did not respond fast enough to the Rescue 15 (emergency) call. All this attention does no good.  Kidnappers work from two general motives - money or the promotion of a cause. Press attention has the impact of either raising the value of the victim or drawing attention to the cause. It has benefits as well, forcing the police to pursue the rescue of the victim with some vigourin the full glare of the international media. The natural revulsion that this case causes helps to ensure that it is an embarrassment that is taken seriously by the security services. Let's pray that it doesn't contribute to a very sad ending for young Saahil and his family.