Reinforcing Success
Hardly 40 days or so after the Oct 8 earthquake that devastated parts of NWFP and most of AK, pledges of US$ 5.8 billion have been made for the rehabilitation of the affectees, about US$ 600 million more than the estimated amount of US$ 5.198 billion. Nearly US$ 1 billion more is certainly in the pipeline. Nobody should discount the generosity of the world. The International Donor’s Conference on Nov 19 was an outstanding success, the government deserves kudos for having professionally organized the campaign to obtain the necessary funds. Fully US$ 1.8 billion was pledged in outright grants by generous friends led by the US, Saudi Arabia, China etc, the rest was mostly concessional credit on easy terms. Some outstanding debts were also written off. Some muslim countries came to our help despite their own liquidity problems, Turkey stands out. Some extremely affluent muslim countries were a disappointment, par for the course. The richer they are, the more unfeeling they can get.
