World cannot pay for Pakistan flood disaster, says Holbrooke

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

UNITED NATIONS: The outside world cannot foot the entire bill for Pakistan’s recovery from devastating floods and the Pakistani government must do more, US special envoy Richard Holbrooke said on Monday. The day after world donors raised aid pledges to almost $2 billion, Holbrooke said the eventual cost of the monsoon disaster could run into the “tens of billions of dollars”. “The international community will not be able to pick up the full cost of reconstruction,” Holbrooke said. “There will be a need for continued international assistance, but what we need to stress is that at a time of scarcity in other countries, a reconstruction effort cannot be financed completely by other countries.” The US envoy called on the Pakistani government to redouble its efforts to help the 21 million people the UN estimates had been affected by the disaster, including 12 million needing emergency food aid.