We have chronicled here on Aid Watch how media coverage of disasters influences disasters, and how late the US media has been to the story of the disastrous flood in Pakistan, with apparently anemic donor response as a result.
Puzzlement deepened this morning at 7:30 am when I picked up my NYT off my doorstep and saw the four column front-page headline: Much of Pakistan’s Progress is Lost in Its Floodwaters. The NYT devotes not only the huge front-page space to the flood, but also two prime pages inside of the first section. Could somebody please explain the mysterious alchemy by which a tragedy going on for a month already finally become a huge story?
In praise of the NYT, the story is great, and also has great pictures and maps like this one shown here. So please go back and read Laura’s many posts on Pakistan flooding.
2 Comments
I’d say the material was lying around and they found themselves with some empty pages to fill.
1/5th of the Pakistan’s land mass affected by flood waters. (62000 sq miles)
* GDP growth could be as low as zero percent
* Cotton crop loss about 30 percent
* Inflation could reach 25 percent
Human Cost of the Disaster
Around 20 million people affected
Nearly 1,500 casualties reported so far; death toll feared to rise dramatically
Millions of people without basic food, clothing and shelter
More than 1.8 million people without clean drinking water
Around 3.5 million children at risk from water-borne diseases
Hundreds of villages located on low-lying lands submerged
Thousands of villages – with peoples houses, belongings, livestock etc – washed away
More than 5,000 miles of roads and railways have been washed away
Houses damaged and destroyed 1,237,493 (28 Aug)
Economic Cost of the Disaster
GDP could become 0%
An estimated 10 million people have lost their livelihoods
Over 3.2 million hectares of standing crops, representing 16% of the cultivatable area, have so far been damaged
Agricultural sector– that contributes 21% to the GDP and engages around 45% of the labour force – has been the worst hit
Total economic losses still under assessment
Reconstruction and rehabilitation to cost over $7 billion
Over 5,500 schools and 1,300 health centres have been either damaged or destroyed; and nearly 5,000 schools are now housing displaced families – UNICEF Estimates