Devastating floods have disrupted the lives of 14 million people across Pakistan, but despite the humanitarian disaster, foreign aid is only trickling in.
An estimated eight per cent of the country's population has been displaced since floods triggered by monsoon rains began in late July.
According to the United Nations, the number of people affected ranks this disaster worse than the combined toll of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the Kashmir earthquake in 2005 and this year's earthquake in Haiti.
But compared to the rush of foreign aid for victims of those disasters, the victims in Pakistan have so far seen little of the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to put their lives back together.
This week, UN officials said $460 million is needed for immediate relief, followed by billions more to rebuild once the floodwaters finally recede.
A spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that of the $310 million still needed, to date, the UN has collected just $93 million, with an additional $32 million pledged.
That figure doesn't include bilateral donations like the $70 million from Washington. Other major donors include Britain's pledge of $32 million, Germany's $13 million, Australia's $10 million and $5 million from Kuwait.
Canada has so far committed to sending $2 million in aid, although Â鶹´«Ã½ has learned Ottawa is preparing to increase its aid commitment to $30 million.
International response puzzles observers, confounds the needy
In the context of the estimated $1 billion in pledges that came in the 10 days following the earthquake in Haiti, aid to Pakistan pales in comparison.
The international community's slow, relatively muted response to the flooding disaster has many speculating why.
"The international recognition of this disaster has not yet been sufficient to its dimensions," U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke told the Council on Foreign Relations. "That is because floods, unlike earthquakes and tsunamis, are not sudden catastrophes that hit and then the reconstruction begins. They're rolling crises, which grow and are initially underestimated."
Other theories being considered include donor fatigue or the colouring of international attitudes toward Pakistan by links to terrorism or corruption.
Some even suggest Pakistan's own handling of the disaster has done little to instill confidence foreign aid would be put to good use.
Molly Kinder, a Pakistan aid expert with the Washington-based Center for Global Development, suggests the lack of celebrity involvement may be a factor.
"I haven't exactly seen Lady Gaga go on Oprah to pledge donations to Pakistan's flood victims," she told The Associated Press.
From his perspective, a UN spokesperson in Pakistan has a more macabre explanation.
"Unfortunately, sometimes a segment of the public only looks at the death toll," Maurizio Giuliano told AP, noting that an estimated 1,500 people have lost their lives in the Pakistan floods.
Eighty-thousand people died in the Kashmir earthquake, while the death tolls in the tsunami and Haiti quakes were even higher.
With files from CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin and The Associated Press
