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Angry flood survivors gesture as they block a highway demanding food, shelter and water in Sukkar, Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 16, 2010. They protested slow delivery of aid and heavy rain lashed makeshift housing Monday as a forecast of more flooding increased the urgency of the massive international relief effort.Shakil Adil

Pakistan is under water, and its weak and bickering leaders have done little to help. But the world should not punish the people of Pakistan because they suffer from bad luck, bad weather and worse government. Longer-term reconstruction cannot be left to Pakistanis alone. While Canada is to be commended for committing $33-million, international and private donors need to respond to the call of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for at least $460-million in donations.

Floods have engulfed the Indus River Valley of central and northern Pakistan, and have already killed around 1,600 people. But the situation is far worse than even that tragic, 11-day-old estimate suggests. One-fifth of Pakistan's land area and one-eighth of the population - some 20 million people - are affected. One province was hit by around 30 feet of rain in one week.

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's President, has been absent; he continued a tour of European capitals for over a week as the floodwaters rose, and is going away again, for a meeting in Russia, on Wednesday. Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League, is playing politics, promising to cut other government subsidies to pay for a government-led reconstruction. The country's most prominent institution, the military, has rescued stranded people, but cannot lead the entire relief effort. No wonder Pakistanis are upset with their leadership.

As Hurricane Katrina showed, however, natural disaster can overwhelm even the ablest government. And while Pakistan's government merits little trust, Pakistanis have great needs. An outbreak of cholera looms. Fields are overwhelmed and crops destroyed, so food aid must be a priority. Electricity infrastructure will need to be rebuilt soon so that water can again be filtered.

Prospective donors, though, may not be aware of this, because of the slow pace at which the emergency unfolded. When the death toll is in the thousands, rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands (as in earthquakes in Haiti and China, and the 2005 Asian tsunami), people are less inclined to tune in or be immediately generous.

But in this flood, the post-disaster emergency needs are just as great as the needs in those catastrophes. And just like disasters past, it will take a co-ordinated effort, led by Pakistan but with substantial help from NGOs and international institutions to fill the gaps.

Pakistan cannot, and should not, respond alone. The UN has laid out an initial emergency response plan, and donors should help fund the immediate aid efforts. After all, this is a continuing disaster: more rain will fall on Pakistan this week.

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