AID TO PAKISTAN

The floods resulting from this year's extraordinary monsoon rains in Pakistan have caused a humanitarian tragedy. According to the U.N., more than 17 million people are affected, more than a million homes have been destroyed. A fifth of the country is under water, and likely to remain that way for some time. Diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera will spread, snakes will be an ever-present danger.

The long-term effects will probably be greater than either the tsunami in South East Asia or the earthquake in Haiti. Why is it, therefore, that the rich world's response to the floods, especially that of the general public, is not as enthusiastic as it was then?

Part of it is due to current economic problems, there is simply not as much money around. However, the real answer, I believe, lies in Pakistan itself. Rightly or wrongly, the country has come to be perceived as "unfriendly". A supporter of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a haven to radical Islamists, the scene of foreign flag-burnings, a dangerous nuclear power, an oppressor of women. Why give money to these sorts of things?

It is of course both true and a truism to say that most of the people affected by the floods have nothing to do with any of these things; they have merely tried to get on with improving their - pretty impoverished - lives, and have now lost what little they have. Unfortunately, that doesn't make the feelings in the West any less true. In politics, perception matters; a lot. Denmark's stock in the world plummetted when one of its newspapers published cartoons offensive to Muslims, in vain did it say that it was a question of free speech. The current reluctance is the same phenomenon in reverse.

When the floods have abated - as they eventually will - I hope that this is the lesson that Governments take to heart, both Pakistan's and those outside. Dialogue and understanding are vital if this planet is to survive the future. After all, if forecasts of climate change are right, then every country is potentially vulnerable to a natural disaster requiring the help of others.

Walter Blotscher