The United Nations appeared to have met its target of $460 million in immediate aid for flood-stricken Pakistan yesterday after the United States and other nations significantly upped their pledges.
The rush of promised help came after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, addressing a hastily called meeting of the General Assembly, urged governments and citizens to be even more generous than they were in the 2004 tsunami and this year’s Haiti earthquake. He called the floods a bigger “global disaster,” with the Pakistan government now saying more than 20 million people need shelter, food and clean water.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States, already the biggest flood-aid donor, would contribute an additional $60 million, bringing its total to more than $150 million.