Pakistan's envoy to London Dr Maleeha Lodhi has said that overseas Pakistanis living in Europe and America could play an important role in ensuring supply of tents and blankets to quake-ravaged areas.
In an interview with PTV Prime here, she said 180 tonnes of relief goods like blankets, sleeping bags and medical equipment, collected by different charities and expatriates had already been sent from Britain to Pakistan through PIA Cargo Service.
Appreciating the role being played by expatriates, she appealed them to do more as the country of their origin was facing a formidable challenge.
Dr Lodhi said private sector and NGOs had an important role to play to help Government meet the extraordinary challenge. The Government on its part was trying its best to cope with it. The relief operation was in full swing but its capacity to airlift insufficient helicopters hampered the needed items.
Although, the road links were opened within first 36 hours yet as a result of over 700 aftershocks, the relief operation was affected as it was being carried out in the rugged mountainous terrain.
She said the rescue operation was a transitory phase and an estimated cost to rehabilitation and reconstruction was roughly $5 billion. Hence the assistance of the developed world was needed as Pakistan alone could not meet this huge challenge.
The envoy once again reiterated that the best way to assist Pakistan to deal with this colossal task was to give its exports free access to European and American markets. She said European Union and US were the biggest markets for its exports.
Answering a question Dr Lodhi said electronic media had helped galvanise the people to contribute to the relief work for the affected areas.
Pakistan needed much more money than $600 million pledged so far by the international community. She hoped the donors' conference convened by the UN in Geneva on October 26 would rise to the occasion by pledging the required funds.