Sixteen hundred people have died in the past three months due to the extensive flooding in Pakistan. During this time the people of Pakistan have witnessed the country’s worst flooding in over 80 years. The country was left in shambles with about 20 million people displaced from their homes. The flooding submerged 17 million acres of Pakistan’s most fertile land, washed away  food storage for this year, and killed over 200,000 livestock.  Overall these floods have directly affected about one fifth of the entire country. Even after the flooding, the country will face risk of diseases like cholera spread through dirty water, and inflation of food prices caused by shortages. As for the country’s infrastructure, this sudden disaster has set Pakistan back for years. Roads, bridges, and communication –all the key elements that tie any nation together – have been decimated.

With all the chaos going on in Pakistan due to this disaster, it took over a month for aid to start flowing in to the country. As of now, the United States has only donated about 20 million dollars to Pakistan.  As far as explaining why the amount of US aid has been so low, perhaps the best explanation can be found in a recent CNN polls that revealed,  “78% of Americans hold mostly unfavorable views of Pakistan.”  In a great contrast, when the earthquake in Haiti first hit, the American media and the popular response was rapid. During the eight succeeding days of the earthquake, the United States raised over 305 million dollars.

As the prime minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron explained, “It seems that we see the face of the enemy in the victims of the floods but they shouldn’t be the ones we blame.” After the earthquake in Haiti, the Newark Academy community was enthusiastic to help out, and started many fundraisers. With the new school year it is uncertain whether or not NA’s outpouring of support will be as positive. Senior Pat McMahon acknowledges that the school community has not been as responsive because “Pakistan is linked to the Middle East, it is geographically far away, and also the media has not been all over the topic.”   Hopefully fundraising will pick up, but for now the predictions look gloomy.