Telethon gets more than 1 million Rufiyyah in 24 hours
The 24 hour show was a joint effort among the NGOs, media, sports and film industry personals and catering industry to help the flood victims of Pakistan.
The flood devastation has affected around 20 million people, besides claiming over 1,500 lives, destroying infrastructure and incurring losses of around 1.5-2 percent to the GDP growth.
The telethon received a total of Rf1015707.11. Rf435,355, which was received via SMS and Rf254195.50 from the fund boxes. While Rf43,500 was received from selling souvenir tickets of the football matches played Friday evening, Rf17,240 was received by selling general tickets of the matches. Private fund raising events conducted as part of the telethon collected Rf210,711 and Rf32,500 was received from selling jerseys and sports equipments used by players in the football matches.
Elsewhere, a meeting of International Foreign Women Association (IFWA) was held in Islamabad to collect the donations for the flood victims in Pakistan which was also attended by Mangesha, the country representative of UNHCR, Aishath Shehenaz Adam the High Commissioner of Maldives and the wives of various ambassadors and high commissioners based in Islamabad with selective Pakistani ladies.
International aid agencies have warned that six million children in flood-ravaged areas were at risk of life-threatening diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition and pneumonia.
Doctors fear stagnant flood plains in densely populated, poverty-stricken urban areas may become breeding grounds for cholera, mosquitoes and malaria.
The United Nations says the disaster is the biggest Pakistan has faced and it would cost billions to rehabilitate the victims and rebuild ruined infrastructure.