Have you been asked while checking out at the Virginia Tech University Bookstore if you would like to donate a dollar to Pakistan flood relief? Didn’t think so.
In July 2010, unprecedented monsoon rains in Pakistan submerged one-fifth of the nation’s total land area, causing one of the largest natural disasters of the modern era. The United Nations estimated the number of affected individuals to be greater than the combined totals of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. With water levels reaching more than 18 feet high, people were seen standing on their roof tops seeking salvation.
This damage has left millions homeless and injured, as well as severely damaged if not totally destroyed crop fields, affecting future wheat harvests in particular.
Research by Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy shows as of Aug. 30, a total of $25 million has been donated to Pakistan by individuals. While this is a seemingly large amount, it pales in comparison to the $900 million donated to efforts in Haiti within the same time frame after the quake struck.
With such great need, why the lack of relief aid?
A major factor points to the lack of media coverage. Although news stories swiftly brought images and videos of Pakistanis wading through shoulder-deep water, coverage since the flooding has been increasingly rare.
With the public’s attention indefinitely divided between other media seeking our attention such as ads, celebrity gossip, YouTube videos and social networks, news stories seem to remain in our conscious only as a result of repeated exposure.
Unfortunately, while we are able to cry “Oh, the horror,” at the breaking news bar on the bottom of our TV screens, the horror remains long after it stops being brought to our attention.
Another reason for the lackluster donations may be because of the fact that Pakistan has not been favorably portrayed in the media otherwise.
As a Muslim nation, heavily associated with terrorism as of late, individuals are perhaps less willing to offer relief. With the Park51 Mosque stirring controversy and intensifying opinions, those holding animosity toward Muslims may be less inclined to give to those thought of as the adversary.
While this may be an underlying and largely subconscious factor hindering aid, I would urge you to look past this and realize the humanitarian stakes at hand.
Finally, the fact that 20 million people have been displaced and 2,000 have died — a very small fraction of the number of people lost in events such as the Haiti earthquake or Pacific tsunami — is likely a large factor for the lack of donations.
This brings up an interesting point.
While the Haiti earthquake was an utterly stomach wrenching tragedy, much of the publicity it received was based on the number of people killed. In a course I am taking specifically on Haiti’s past, present and future, we discussed how Haiti is actually facing an excess of funds and there are “too many chefs in the kitchen” in attempting to decide how to allocate all of it.
While large death figures may raise our eyebrows, consequently leading us to reach into our pockets quickly, the painfully large number of displaced people in Pakistan and miraculously low number of dead should have an equally, if not more, profound effect.
The 20 million displaced Pakistanis are alive and surviving on water and food dropped by helicopters onto the small blips of land not inundated by water. The United Nations has stated that donations are not coming in quickly enough, and it is feared that many will suffer from hunger, and ultimately, starvation. For this reason, donations are critically important because these deaths are largely preventable with proper funds.
As food for thought, while studying in Bishop-Favrao Hall the other day, I stood at a window observing the beloved new parking deck on Perry Street. It occurred to me that the structure, this $30 million structure built to temporarily house our
Volkswagens and Jeeps, exceeds the amount of funds given to save a nation in despair by $5 million.
Twenty million people left homeless could have food and water to survive another day or two with funding easily found to give just more than a thousand cars a spot to rest while we go about our days.
While undoubtedly an unfair comparison between the richest nation in the world and one of the poorest, the comparison nonetheless puts into some perspective the paramount need for relief aid and the ease with which we procure millions of dollars. Something tells me that donating $5 would do a world of good, and none of us would notice the loss a few minutes later.