Community | September 20, 2010 | 17 comments

UNICEF: 100,000 Pakistan children face starvation

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39257268/ns/world_news_south_and_central_asia/

Image
JanforGore
Suhani Bunglani fans flies away from her two baby girls as one sleeps motionless while the other stares without blinking at the roof of their tent, her empty belly bulging beneath a green flowered shirt.

Their newborn sister already died on the ground inside this steamy shelter at just 4 days old, after the family's escape from violent floods that drowned a huge swath of Pakistan. Now the girls, ages 1 and 2, are slowly starving, with shriveled arms and legs as fragile as twigs.

More than 100,000 children left homeless by Pakistan's floods are in danger of dying because they simply do not have enough to eat, according to UNICEF. Children already weak from living on too little food in poor rural areas before the floods are fighting to stay alive, as diarrhea, respiratory diseases and malaria attack their emaciated bodies.

Doctors roaming the 100-degree camp that reeks of urine and animal manure have warned Bunglani three times to take her children to the hospital, or they will die.

The mother says she knows they need help, but she cannot leave the tent without her husband's consent. She must stay until he returns, even if it means risking her daughters' lives.

"I am waiting for my husband," she says, still fanning flies from the sweating babies. "He is coming."

The floodwaters that swamped a section of Pakistan larger than Florida continue to inundate new areas, forcing even more people to flee. At least 18 million have already been affected, and nearly half of them are homeless. Many have been herded into crude, crowded camps or left to fend for themselves along roads.

But doctors warn the real catastrophe is moving much slower than the murky water. About 105,000 kids younger than 5 at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition over the next six months, the United Nations Children's Fund estimates.

"You're seeing children who were probably very close to the brink of being malnourished and the emergency has just pushed them over the edge," says Erin Boyd, a UNICEF emergency nutritionist working in southern Pakistan. "There's just not the capacity to treat this level of severe acute malnutrition."

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  2. tags:
    Environment,  Climate Change,  Pakistan,  Humanity,  2 more
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17 comments // UNICEF: 100,000 Pakistan children face starvation

  • abhishek25
    • 0
      abhishek25  

    • This is the most worst country in the world , they have money build nukes and missiles but no money to feed their poor people

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNgG-NTlYRA

      These faces are the faces of human beings. Families like yours and mine. Mothers concerned for their children being fed. Fathers wondering how they will make a living now that all of their crops and their homes have been washed away. The pain they now go through is no different than the pain we would go through had this happened to us. Out of this horrible tragedy I believe something good could come from it. For us to show them that terrorism has not blackened our hearts towards them. These are not terrorists. These are people caught in a power struggle in a country wracked by corruption. You know, with every catastrophe that happens I keep hoping it will unleash the better human in us all and we will finally arrive at a place where skin color, race, religion or country will not affect our ability to help those in need, and that includes all people helping each other. And in the world we are now making these events may well be more common. How will we ever survive it without understanding that?

    • 1 year ago
  • oppressed1
  • themotivateddropout
    • +3
      themotivateddropout  
    • oppressed1:

      Those little kids grow up to hate America because stupid motherfuckers like you don't care what a shit hole it is that they're growing up in. But we'll blow it up to protect our freedom. Keep your anti humanity vomit to yourself.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • oppressed1
    • -5
      oppressed1  

    • wah wah wah... We dont have enough money to feed our poor, and these people hate us so tough, lifes not fair. Tired of america being told we have the responsibility of taking care of the world.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • oppressed1:

      Yes, we do have the money to feed our poor, we just aren't distributing it to that because the Republicans keep voting it down. They LOVE THEIR TRILLIONS FOR WAR AND THE CORPORATIONS THOUGH. Personally, I am sick of the hateful attitide from the same people who will never understand that food not bombs will bring this world peace which proves they don't really want it because they hate just as fervently. But don't worry, I would never expect you to understand what this is truly all about. You think that poor little human being in the picture hates you? You need a debriefing from Fox News or whatever is brainwashing you. Anyone who would turn their back on someone suffering like this regardless of where they are from has no soul.

    • 1 year ago
  • noxidereus
    • +3
      noxidereus  
    • oppressed1:

      Fuck you. Prick.

      Nationalism and boundaries are artificial. Let's not forget that we are all human beings. Stop being such a fucking douche and remember your own humanity, Fuckface. Take a look at that picture. Now while you're looking at it, picture yourself saying 'wah wah wah' to that poor child and her mother. Now look in the mirror. See that asshole looking back at you? That's you. You are the sort of person who sees a child starving to death and you mock her and worry about your wallet and the status quo nationalism with which you have been brainwashed. Look hard at that stupid dumbass fuck staring back at you from the mirror. Take a good hard look.

    • 1 year ago
  • FtheBULLSHT
  • oppressed1
    • -5
      oppressed1  
    • noxidereus:

      American first.

      I could give two shits about any of these third world kids. If that was an american baby i would give her everything i could to help her. But cry me a river pussy, stop living through the prism of your heart, and use your brain.

    • 1 year ago
  • JanforGore
  • iamfree
  • themotivateddropout
    • +3
      themotivateddropout  
    • oppressed1:

      Stupid asshole.
      You're OK with us bombing children in the middle east, but feeding them or giving them money? Perish the thought.
      You're a disgusting fucking human being and you don't deserve to call yourself an American. You're hardly a fucking human being.
      Shame on you, scum bag.

    • 1 year ago
  • themotivateddropout
    • +2
      themotivateddropout  
    • oppressed1:

      And yet you support us being overseas fighting these "insurgents".
      Hypocritical prick. You're tired of us being told we have the responsibility of taking care of the world, but you don't mind policing the world.
      If you're that tired, try washing your mouth out with buckshot.

      EDIT:
      That last sentence is a little aggressive, I'll admit, but when the first thing I see in the morning after opening my email is that withered baby, my patience for antagonism against these children lowers.

    • 1 year ago
  • onemalefla
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • A catastrophe beyond what we could envision in our comfortable lives. I am heartsick to see this so ignored simply because of the hatred permeating this country that only feeds the hatred already there. Do you truly think that poor malnourished little girl is your enemy?

    • 1 year ago
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