JEDDAH, 23 October 2005 — Leaders from the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Islamic Development Bank yesterday left on a fact-finding tour of the earthquake-hit areas of Pakistan.
OIC Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu and IDB President Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali will get firsthand information about the devastation wrought by the recent earthquake and to study the situation so as to strengthen efforts to provide help and support to the victims of the tragedy.
Addressing a press conference at the OIC headquarters here before leaving, Professor Ihsanoglu said Pakistan needed $20 billion “so as to overcome the problems resulting from the devastating catastrophe.”
He said that of the nearly $680 million in aid for the quake victims worldwide, OIC member states’ share was about $519.8 million — almost 77 percent of the total.
“These donations are not enough,” he stressed. “The help is slow in coming. We need speed and increased amounts. Expedite the efforts and donate more material and financial help,” he added.
Professor Ihsanoglu explained that winter was closing in, and it would soon start to snow, making not only relief efforts difficult but the victims’ lives “extremely unbearable, homeless and roofless as they are.”
He emphasized the urgent need for tents, sleeping bags, blankets, helicopters, heavy-lifting equipment, medical supplies and foodstuff. He assured that the OIC would continue to do everything until the infrastructure destroyed as a result of the earthquake was back in place.
He said Saudi Arabia had given cash aid of $133 million, Turkey $150 million, Kuwait and the UAE $100 million each, Qatar $15.9 million, Oman $5 million, Afghanistan and Azerbaijan $500,000 each, Iran $1.2 million, Algeria and Malaysia $1 million each, and OIC institutions $11.7 million.
Before his departure, IDB President Dr. Muhammad Ali said that the Board of Executive Directors had allocated $251.6 million as a contribution to the ongoing international relief efforts to help Pakistan.
