The Icelandic Red Cross (Raudi kross Íslands) will send its third representative, Hrafnhildur Sverrisdóttir, to Pakistan next weekend to assist with emergency relief in the areas hit by disastrous flooding in August and September—70 percent of the land is damaged.
Sverrisdóttir will work as a communications manager for the international Red Cross. “People still live there in horrible conditions—those who are lucky live in tents,” Thórir Gudmundsson at the Red Cross’s international division told Morgunbladid.
Gudmundsson said Pakistan hasn’t received as much attention as Haiti where a destructive earthquake hit in January. “It often happens when catastrophes occur, one after the other, where people put a lot of effort into aid at first but then the effort subsides.”
This is the most serious catastrophe in the history of Pakistan and it is believed that the restoration of society will take many years, even decades.
“However, people have donated a considerable amount of money to the project, the Foreign Ministry is among our sponsors, but the problem is so severe that it will never be enough,” he added.
“Very important aid for those who have lost their homes and don’t expect a harvest next year is being contributed but there are also many people who just aren’t getting enough help,” Gudmundsson stated.
However, he said the representatives of the Icelandic Red Cross, which had donated around ISK 14 million (USD 120,000, EUR 91,000) to emergency relief in Pakistan, have been successful in their work.
Those who are already there on behalf of the Icelandic Red Cross are nurse Lilja Óskarsdóttir and safety officer Jóhannes Sigfússon.
Click here to read about Icelandic aid efforts in Haiti.
