Text SWAT to 20222 to Donate $5 to UNHCR's Efforts in Pakistan

An announcement from UNHCR on making donations to help displaced people from Pakistan's Swat Valley.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has asked the American people to join in the world-wide humanitarian effort in Pakistan:

"Now, Americans can use technology to help, as well. Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word "swat" -- to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people. And before I came over here, we did that in the State Department. So we are making some of the first donations to this fund."

As the number of men, women and children uprooted this month by the current conflict in north-west Pakistan is now greater than 1.45 million, the UN Refugee Agency stated that it is "absolutely essential" that the international community mount an immediate and massive humanitarian response.

Text the word SWAT to the number 20222 to make an immediate $5 donation to the UN Refugee Agency's life-saving work in Pakistan.

The UN Refugee Agency has been quick to respond to the crisis, but the unfolding emergency requires a quick response by donors. Tents, sleeping mats, and blankets are desperately needed to shelter those innocents whose homes and possessions have been destroyed by war.

The 1.5 million displaced people so far registered this month by authorities and UNHCR are in addition to another 550,000 uprooted people who have fled fighting since last August. According to the latest figures, 987,140 people have been registered from the current influx, including 907,298 outside camps and 79,842 in camps.

According to Guterres "Most of [the displaced] are currently depending on relatives and friends for help and are not in camps, thus creating huge social and economic pressures. But if these people - both the displaced and the many Pakistanis trying to help them - do not receive rapid international support, I fear there is a very real possibility of further destabilization."

$5 can register 15 displaced Pakistanis for assistance and protection.
$50 can register 150 displaced Pakistanis for assistance and protection.
$100 can pay for a survival kit including blankets and cooking stoves.
$200 can provide an all-weather tent to shelter a displaced family.
$500 can sink two wells to provide clean water for refugees.

On Tuesday, May 12 UNHCR airlifted 120 tons of additional relief supplies from its regional stockpile in Dubai. The chartered aircraft carried 10,000 mosquito nets, 14,000 plastic sheets for emergency shelters, 1,500 plastic rolls to build walls and privacy screens in camps, and two portable warehouses.

But, for these nearly 1.5 million displaced persons, the needs are far greater.

Check out Secretary Clinton's comments at: http://blogs.state.gov/index.php/entries/text_disaster_relief/
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A previous post that mentions the donation system is here.