flood aid

Natural disasters know no political boundaries. And that’s why international humanitarian relief flows so quickly, and in such great and humbling quantities, when hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis strike. But today, with Houston suffering as Mother Nature’s latest victim, will the world’s giving nations step-up and step-in to help American relief efforts?

The United States will provide an additional $91 million in humanitarian aid for Ethiopia to cope with a third straight year of drought, the top U.S. official in charge of assistance said Thursday. The extra funding brings U.S. aid for food and medical care in Ethiopia to $454 million this year, said Mark Green, the new administrator of the United States Agency for International Development. Another $210 million in U.S. aid has gone to development projects.

The Mexican government expressed its solidarity Sunday with the United States following the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey and offered assistance to Texas. "As we have done in the past, Mexico stands with Texas in this difficult moment," Carlos Gonzalez Gutierrez, the Mexican consul general in Austin, said. Mexico is prepared for a Katrina-like assistance package.

Pakistan and India have offered each other assistance in dealing with the devastation caused by the floods in the two neighbouring countries. Pakistan on Sunday offered assistance and help to India to mitigate the suffering of the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir due to the floods. While responding to a question regarding floods in held Kashmir, Foreign Office spokesperson said that the government and people of Pakistan express deepest condolences over the loss of precious lives of Kashmiri brethren on both sides of the Line of Control caused by torrential rains and flash floods.