Charities launch joint campaign to raise funds for Pakistan
Announcement posted by Switched on Media 20 Aug 2010
Three leading Australian charities have joined forces to urge Australians to help the victims of Pakistan’s devastating floods.
ActionAid, Plan International and Save the Children will tomorrow run full-page advertisements in The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Adelaide Advertiser – the first time the agencies have engaged in a joint advertising campaign – in an attempt to raise the profile of the emergency.
The UN has declared the disaster to be larger in scale than the Indian Ocean tsunami and the Haiti earthquake, yet media coverage and donations from the public have been comparatively small, and more money is urgently needed.
The UN has appealed for $US459.7 million to fund the relief work - so far only about one-third of this amount has been committed.
An estimated 20 million people in Pakistan are now homeless, and six million of these are completely dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival.
Aid agencies are warning that dehydration and the threat of a cholera outbreak will claim many more lives if aid does not reach affected populations quickly.
“While Australian politicians engage in debate about debates, 20 million people in Pakistan are homeless after the worst humanitarian disaster in recent times,” says Archie Law, chief executive of ActionAid Australia.
“It is clear this disaster is much larger than anything we’ve seen in recent times. The world needs to step up
accordingly, and we’re asking Australians to play their part.”
Plan International Australia’s chief executive Ian Wishart says media coverage of the floods has been woefully inadequate given the sheer scale of the disaster.
“Millions of people are now dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival, yet this story has only briefly made the front pages,” says Mr Wishart. “As a result, donations are way below the levels we’d expect for a disaster of this magnitude.
Australians are known for their generosity, but it’s hard for them to contribute to an emergency they’re not
being told about.”
Save the Children’s Emergencies Program Director Mike Penrose says there is a great danger that the disaster will be overshadowed by this weekend’s election.
“As Australians decide who to vote for this Saturday, we also hope they’ll take a minute to think about the millions of people dependent on humanitarian assistance for survival,” says Mr Penrose.
“Agencies are already working together in Pakistan to ensure aid is distributed effectively, so it makes sense that we work closely together here in Australia to increase public awareness and generate much needed funds to help the 20 million people that have been affected by the unprecedented floods. That’s pretty much the population of Australia.
And that’s why we’re coming together to urge the Australian public to donate today.”
On Tuesday the Australian Government announced it had tripled its aid to Pakistan after urgent pleas from Islamabad and the United Nations, raising the amount of Australian assistance to $35 million – some of which will support the emergency response work of the three agencies.
The representatives of the three NGOs are available for interview about the Pakistan floods, their organisation’s response and the advertising campaign.
To speak to Archie Law from ActionAid, contact:
Emily Mulligan
Media Officer
ActionAid Australia (formerly Austcare)
Ph: (02) 9565 9100
Mobile: 0422 317 324
Email: emily.mulligan@actionaid.org
To speak to Ian Wishart from Plan International Australia, contact:
David Cook
Media Officer
Plan International Australia
Ph: (03) 9362 0010
Mobile: 0448 816 900
Email: David.cook@plan.org.au
To speak to Mike Penrose from Save the Children, contact:
Peta Levett
Media Officer
Save the Children
Ph: 03 9938 2000
Mob: 0437 355 096
Email: peta.levett@savethechildren.org.au
ActionAid Australia www.actionaid.org.au 1300 66 66 72
Plan International Australia www.plan.org.au 13 75 26
Save the Children Australia www.savethechildren.org.au 1800 76 00 11