An emergency meeting of the Permanent Representatives of the Member States of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on the floods that swept the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was held today at the OIC General Secretariat in Jeddah. The OIC Secretary-General, Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, stated that the meeting comes following a request made by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to convene an emergency meeting of the OIC Permanent Representatives to express OIC support, solidarity and sympathy to the Government and people of Pakistan in the aftermath of the tragic flood disaster to be witnessed in Pakistan since 1929. He stressed that the situation is very precarious and unprecedented in modern history, compared to the Tsunami in Indonesia, the Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, Hurricane Katrina in the US and even the Pakistan earthquake of 2005. That simply means that we are faced with a disaster of gigantic proportions which requires colossal resources to be tackled and Pakistan alone is unable to overcome this challenge of great magnitude as indeed no other country would be able to face such calamity single-handedly. The Final Communique of the emergency meeting emphasized that, despite the significant support provided by some Member States to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Pakistani people is still in a pressing need of further urgent relief support to be able to respond to its daily needs and overcome this plight. The Communique also called on the OIC to consider seriously the establishment of an emergency fund to address efficiently and urgently natural disasters and catastrophes which might affect individual Member States in the future, particularly in view of the phenomena of global warming and climate change.
