(Edmonton) As the death toll in Pakistan rises along with the flood waters, University of Alberta students are fundraising on campus to help ease the suffering.
Pakistan is in crisis as the worst disaster in a decade is devastating 20 million people across 70 per cent of the country. Petroleum engineering master’s student Umer Sheraz, along with other U of A students from Pakistan, is working to raise money for relief efforts in his home country.
“It started around two weeks ago, in the northern part of Pakistan. It rained so much, and it was such heavy rain, and it affected regions that were very hard to reach – mountainous areas, mostly populated by poor people, without very good housing,” said Sheraz. “But when it started, no-one thought it was going to be this bad.”
The Red Cross estimates that more than 14 million people have been affected by the floods, 720,000 homes damaged or destroyed and, with no end to the persistent monsoon rains in the forecast, millions of people will be reliant on food aid and emergency relief in the coming months.
“First it was like, 500 people died, then 1,000, now more than 2,000,” said Sheraz. “And Unicef says that 3.5 million children are in danger of contracting water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea.”
“In the southern areas of Pakistan, it’s all agricultural land. There are two areas that raise wheat for the whole region – if the water reaches there, there’s going to be a big shortage of food,” said Sheraz. “People have lost their cattle, their farms, their homes, their lands and the rain is still not stopping.”
Raising money for the Pakistan disaster has been slow to get moving, said Peter Popkowski Leszczyc, a professor from the U of A’s Alberta School of Business, who conducts research on patterns of charitable giving.
“It may be a combination of a variety of different factors, giving fatigue – the Red Cross had, in one year, three big disasters and record-breaking giving – but it also took time for this event. A flood is a lot slower than an earthquake or a hurricane, and it takes more time for the news to spread,” he said. “But I also speculate that it might have something to do with country of origin.”
Sheraz says that campus fundraisers have run into some opposition in their efforts because of the political situation in Pakistan.
“A lot of people don’t like the nature of Pakistan now, because of the Taliban thing and the war. They have this idea that the funds will go to those people,” he said.
Because the severity of the disaster is humungous, it’s very clear that there’s a need to help the people of Pakistan, said Popkowski Leszczyc.
“The magnitude of this disaster could have two effects – it could potentially bring people closer together, but probably the more likely scenario is some of these terrorist will take any kind of opportunity to prey on people,” he said. “It sometimes can bring people more on the side of the terrorist, depending on what they stand for and what they can provide the people. We know these things have happened in the past.”
The student fundraisers have signed an agreement with the Red Cross, and all donations will go to that organization. The Canadian Red Cross has already deployed four mobile health units and a seven-person paramedic team to affected communities. Canadian funded distributions are underway in the most affected areas, where the Canadian Red Cross aims to assist thousands of people with emergency relief supplies. Money raised will aid the Red Cross efforts in reaching survivors with urgently needed supplies, health care and shelter.
Campus fundraisers will be manning a table in the Students Union Building on Friday to accept donations. Their website ( http://www.uapsa.ca/ ) is also set up to accept donations for the Red Cross.