Northwest relief agencies are having trouble raising as much money for Pakistan flood victims as they raised for Haiti last January.
Northwest relief agencies have raised only a fraction of the money for Pakistan flood victims as they raised for Haiti earthquake survivors last January.
Mercy Corps has raised less than 4% of the amount they received in an equivalent period, and World Vision and Medical Teams International have raised even less-2% and 1%, respectively.
But the number of people affected — 20 million so far, in Pakistan — dwarfs the number that aid organizations helped in Haiti. An estimated 4 million Pakistanis are homeless, compared to about 1.5 million displaced in Haiti.
“We had raised 50 times more for Haiti in the first two weeks than we had for Pakistan,” said Casey Calamusa, a World Vision spokesman. “Yet there’s 10 times any many people affected in Pakistan than in Haiti.”
Relief managers say fund-raising is always more difficult for “slow build” disasters such as floods, compared to sudden calamities like earthquakes or hurricanes that project heightened urgency. Americans also have complex feelings about Pakistan, given political issues including its apparent support for the Taliban.
Read more at OregonLive.com.
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