Pakistani implores world to help after floods

“So far, the world isn’t keeping up with the challenge,” said Mr. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Ms. Siddiqa said the international community needs to heed these concerns.

“Money needs to come in fast,” she said.

The international community has donated or pledged more than $2 billion for flood relief. Mr. Haqqani said Pakistan needs much more as it grapples with the challenges of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

The U.S., which was the first country to respond to the crisis, has committed $200 million.

One of the factors holding back international donors is Pakistan’s rampant corruption.

Lisa Curtis, a senior research fellow on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation, said a spate of news about the misuse of funds in Afghanistan and Pakistan may have caused private donors to worry that their contributions will not make a difference.

Mr. Haqqani said Pakistan has a record of transparency when it comes to disaster relief.

“I don’t think that anybody seriously is concerned about lack of transparency in providing assistance to people who are in need of a very fundamental and basic help like clean water for survival,” he said.

The ambassador said Pakistan will work with the international community to create transparent mechanisms.

“No one is saying write a check to the government of Pakistan and put it in the kitty,” he added.

Most of the assistance has been in kind — helicopter evacuation flights, water purification tablets, cholera vaccines or tents.

“I do not see how any of this is going to be misused. … What are people going to do with the tents which are for displaced people?” Mr. Haqqani said.

As the floodwaters recede, concerns grow about the outbreak of disease, a likelihood that becomes all the more real as rotting carcasses of drowned livestock surface.

The floods also have given rise to speculation in some quarters that Pakistan, a fragile democracy, could be pushed to the brink of instability.

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