World's response to Pakistan has changedFIVE years have passed since the devastating earthquake that shook Pakistan and the international community. There is a stark contrast between the response of the world in 2005 and what is being witnessed now in 2010, said The News in an editorial published Sunday. Excerpts: On the morning of October 8, 2005 an earthquake struck with its epicentre in Azad Kashmir near the city of Muzaffarabad. It registered 7.6 on the Richter scale and killed about 75,000 people, injuring hundreds of thousands more. The generosity and warmth of the people of Pakistan was matched by a global offering of support and within hours help was on its way. The world responded immediately and generously, with $5.4 billion eventually received to help reconstruction and rehabilitate a traumatised population. On the fifth anniversary of the event the shops in Balakot – a town that was literally flattened – were shut in protest at the failure of the government to follow through on its promises at the time, and affectees of the ‘quake were planning a march and sit-in in front of parliament to protest the poor governmental post-quake response. As we still mourn the dead of 2005, the Great Flood of 2010 is yet to drain away, and the disaster that began in August with monsoon rainfall that was in some places 150 per cent greater than was predicted rolls on. There is a stark contrast between the response in 2005 of the people of this country and the wider world, in comparison to now. Aid has been slow to flow. Donor nations are giving ‘in kind' and not ‘in cash' such is their distrust of the government mired in corruption that sits with palms upwards in the hope of getting them filled with money. We are mistrustful of government agencies, less willing to dig into our own pockets despite the fact that the magnitude of the flood in human terms – with millions affected – is far greater than that of the ‘05 quake. Five years on there are still people living in the tents that dot the hillsides across the ‘quake zone; and it is not unreasonable to expect that five years from now there will still be homeless and landless families living in the tents they moved to when their houses were washed away. __
