1.
GV British Red Cross Society building
0.05

2.
CU Sign "Red Cross"
0.08

3.
GV & SV Relief Committee in session (5 shots)
0.26

4.
SV Relief supplies loaded into lorries (4 shots)
1.01

5.
STV Loaded lorry
1.05

6.
CU Pakistan High Commissioner interviewed
1.44


TRANSCRIPT: SEQ 6: QUESTION: "Had the government of Pakistan done all that could be done to guard against a disaster of this kind?"



ALI: "Not a lot could be done within our means and within our resources. The problem is very vast. It is a delta region. Low-lying land. We get two Kinds of floods, sometimes the rivers flood themselves, overflow their banks, and disasters do keep recurring, but nothing of this magnitude has ever happened before."




Initials MF/PN/BB/0200 MF/PN/BB/0232



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Five British charities have formed an aid committee for the victims of the Pakistan flood disaster, and have begun their work by promising GBP 20,000 for immediate assistance.

Pakistan's High Commissioner in London, Mr. Salman Ali, said today (Monday) that although Pakistan was used to disasters, nothing on this scale had ever been experienced before.

The money promised by the relief committee brings up to GBP 50,000 the financial and promised by Britain. The government had immediately contributed GBP 30,000 towards the fund. The money already collected will buy clothing, blankets and food for some of the millions of Pakistanis made homeless by the flood.

British Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home has already said that the Royal Air Force is ready to fly relief supplies from Singapore to the disaster areas if required.

The five charities on the group committee donating a total of GBP 20,000 are OXFAM, Save-the-Children-Fund, British Red Cross, War-On-Want and Christian Aid. They have each donated GBP 4,000.

The High Commissioner of Pakistan in London, Mr. Salman Ali, has launched a further appeal in Britain for funds, aimed mainly at the Pakistani community in Britain.

Mr. Ali was questioned on a television interview: