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Meagre response to UN flood aid appeal

SHAKHAWAT LlTON and ASIIFAQ Wares Khan
Government unconcern and fallout of the August 21 grenade attacks have apparently dampened the global response to the United Nations flash appeal that was only $38 million until yesterday, far short of the targeted $210 million.
Most donors are closely monitoring the aftermath of the grenade artacks on a main opposition Awami League rally on Bangabandhu Avenue that killed 19 people, sources said.
The UN launched the flash appeal on August 12 to the world community for $210 million to help 33 million flood victims in Bangladesh forsixmonths.
UN Resident Coordinator Jorgen Lissner told The Daily Star: "The absence of a clear and unequivocal appeal by the government‘ to the international community is perhaps a greater restraint to donors more than the lack of media coverage and instability."
But another senior UN official in Dhaka said: "They (donor countries and agencies) are worried about the prevailing political situation and waitingformorestability."
The UN flash appeal is th ought of as 'old news' that has gradually gone
off the global media spotlight as the bulk ofglobal aid is being channeled into Sudan to cut the crisis there.
"The current need for aid in Sudan and the attack on the Awami League rally have stolen a lot of political spotlight, but the donors have to understand the needs of people are still very severe," said another UN official, requesting anonymity.
Lissner said it was too early to call the fund commitment paltry, as he hoped donors would pledge more funds at a meeting at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva on Tiiesday to discuss the flash appeal and post-flood rehabilitation.
The Bangladesh envoy to Geneva is expected to join the discussion and a better idea of future donor commitments is expected after the meeting, he said.
The UN has officially received $38 million from donor countries and agencies, plus $22.6 million received in flood relief before the appeal waslaunched.
The government and nongovernmental organisations received $47 million from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Canada, Norway and Australia.
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Donors are also confused about the contradictory flood damage estimates, the sources said.
The UN, the government and an independent think tank, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), wrangled over the flood damage estimates in which the government and the UN estimated the flood damage at $7 billion and the CPD at $2.5 billion.
Finance and Planning Minister M Saifur Rahman dismissed the flood damage estimates of the UN and others as mere guesswork and said the government does not subscribe to their estimates, as they have not assessed the damage on their own.
Lissner explained that the absence of strong backing of the figures with a government appeal lowered the flood issue in donor consideration.