U.S. Envoy Announces Next Steps in Pakistan Flood Aid
U.S. Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke, tells the international community that a lot of work is needed to rebuild flood-ravaged areas of Pakistan. The second stage of relief and reconstruction begins.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S.'s special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that there was still much work to be done in flood-ravaged parts of Pakistan.
[Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan]:
"People are racing to get out of the camps and go home, but they have no homes to go to. The houses are gone. The livestock is gone. The crops are under water…the monumental task of rebuilding the one fifth of the country where every bridge has been wiped out, roads are gone, 4,000 or 5,000 schools are gone, hundreds of health clinics. That's what you're really talking about. That's going to cost tens of billions of dollars."
But he added that international aid had to be matched with equal efforts by Pakistan.
[Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan]:
"In that long-term recovery phase, the international community is not going to be able to pick up the bill for 20, 30 billion dollars or more. We will pick up some of it. The world community will give money, but the Pakistanis must raise their own revenue base."
Some 21 million people have been affected after floods ripped through parts of the country, including 12 million who need emergency food aid.
Nearly 2,000 people are estimated to have died.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S.'s special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said on Tuesday that there was still much work to be done in flood-ravaged parts of Pakistan.
[Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan]:
"People are racing to get out of the camps and go home, but they have no homes to go to. The houses are gone. The livestock is gone. The crops are under water…the monumental task of rebuilding the one fifth of the country where every bridge has been wiped out, roads are gone, 4,000 or 5,000 schools are gone, hundreds of health clinics. That's what you're really talking about. That's going to cost tens of billions of dollars."
But he added that international aid had to be matched with equal efforts by Pakistan.
[Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan]:
"In that long-term recovery phase, the international community is not going to be able to pick up the bill for 20, 30 billion dollars or more. We will pick up some of it. The world community will give money, but the Pakistanis must raise their own revenue base."
Some 21 million people have been affected after floods ripped through parts of the country, including 12 million who need emergency food aid.
Nearly 2,000 people are estimated to have died.
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