EU boosts flood aid to Pakistan to Euro 70 million

European humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva announced that she would travel to the affected areas of Pakistan on Monday to meet with authorities, relief experts and victims of the floods.

"We are facing a humanitarian disaster in Pakistan of massive proportions," Georgieva told a news conference, adding that the need for international assistance was "massive."
The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, said it would provide an extra Euro 30 million in emergency relief assistance to Pakistan after already giving Euro 40 million in aid.

International aid group Oxfam has urged Brussels to provide more aid, saying the commission was "not doing enough."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Sunday also saying that the EU executive should "do more."
Barroso responded in his own letter to Sarkozy that his services were "the first to react" to the disaster in Pakistan.

Georgieva told reporters: "From the very first day, we knew that is going to be a tremendous disaster, we have mobilised to the fullest to deploy and help."
The European aid official expressed frustration about the lack of recognition of the EU assistance and said the 27-nation bloc needed to raise its visibility.

"It breaks my heart that I open newspapers and nowhere I see a recognition that we are the biggest donor in this humanitarian disaster," she said.

Georgieva said she would present in September proposals on how to improve the EU's crisis response, amid calls for Europe to form a rapid reaction scheme for disasters.
The United Nations last week launched an immediate appeal for USD 460 million, and said today that funding had reached 54.5 per cent of this target, though that included pledges that were yet to turn into cash.

Foreign aid began flowing to the 20 million flood victims today, but many remained without food or shelter as Islamabad responded slowly to their needs.Weather forecasts signalled some respite was due with monsoon systems weakening after three weeks of torrential rains brought devastating floods that left at least 1,400 people dead in the country's worst natural disaster.