巴基斯坦接受宿敌印度的洪灾援助 Pakistan Accepts Rival India's Offer of Flood Aid

PlayBar
20 August, 2010

巴基斯坦表示,它将接受印度提供的5百万美元的水灾援助。这是两个长期敌对国家表现出来的罕见的友好姿态。 巴基斯坦正在经历该国历史上最严重的灾难。

巴基斯坦外长库雷希星期五在接受印度NDTV电视台采访时把印度的援助称为是一个“非常受欢迎的举动。”

印度外交部的一名发言人称,这次洪灾援助是“本着同巴基斯坦人民团结一致的精神而表现出的一个善意姿态”。这两个拥有核武器的国家曾经打过三场战争。

季节性暴雨引发的洪灾已经导致多达1600人死亡,并且使巴基斯坦五分之一领土上的大约2千万人受到洪灾的影响。洪灾切断了村庄与外界的联系,破坏了基础设施,毁坏了庄稼,导致牲畜死亡。

联合国说,有8百万人急需得到人道主义救援,联合国还吁请得到4亿6千万美元的国际援助。目前已经收到这一款项的大约百分之六十的援助资金或者承诺。

Pakistan says it will accept $5 million in flood aid from India, a rare gesture of goodwill between the longtime rivals as Pakistan deals with one of the worst disasters in its history.

In an interview with India's NDTV television Friday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi called the aid a "very welcome initiative."

A spokesman for India's foreign office (Vishnu Prakash) called the flood aid a "goodwill gesture in the spirit of solidarity" with the people of Pakistan. The nuclear-armed nations have fought three wars.

Monsoon rains triggered the floods which have killed up to 1,600 people and affected 20 million people in one-fifth of Pakistan's territory. The disaster has marooned villages, wiped out infrastructure, destroyed crops and killed livestock.

The United Nations says eight million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, and has appealed for $460 million in international aid. Roughly 60-percent of that goal has been given or pledged.