Seemingly everyone and their mother has lately weighed in on the subject of invoking the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a way of securing aid for Burma's cyclone victims, but I wanted to add two points to the discussion.

First, by and large, the R2P doctrine has been misunderstood or misrepresented in calls to "invade" Burma. R2P is often implied to boil down to a simple equation: if a government is unable or unwilling to adequately protect its citizens, then the international community has a right to forcibly intervene to protect these people. The first part of this conditional is accurate, but the second is a gross oversimplification. R2P does not prescribe invasion any more than the Constitution of the United States mandates impeachment. Military intervention is only one component of the R2P framework, and one of last resort, at that; it is only to be undertaken when a series of specific conditions are met, ensuring that intervention is justified, well-intentioned, practical, authorized by the proper authority (i.e., the UN Security Council), and will not cause more harm than good.

Wielding R2P as a Trojan horse for invasion and regime change, as Robert Kaplan seems to desire, is harmful to the integrity and future viability of the concept, as well as to the more pressing concern of alleviating the Burmese people's suffering. Scott Paul, writing at The Washington Note, explains this point well, in reference to just one commentator with a convoluted understanding of R2P.

Unfortunately, Hiatt (like some others), seems to equate this principle with an international obligation to trample over the sovereignty of Myanmar in one fell swoop. It would be a disaster if R2P were first operationalized in the form of a hastily arranged military intervention in Myanmar, both for the Burmese people, for whom such an intervention could just as easily exacerbate the crisis as bring relief, and for the promise of the R2P concept, which actually outlines out a set of diplomatic and humanitarian options that are intended to avert a military showdown and preserve national sovereignty. For R2P to really grow in importance in a positive way, military intervention must be a last resort.

Since military intervention is not the only way to use R2P, though, invoking it in an accurate and responsible manner could actually perform a significant service to the doctrine. Merely by uttering these three words, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner spurred a discussion of R2P that will hopefully help hasten its integration into commonly accepted -- and enforced -- international norms.

This leads to my other point -- that discussing the concept in the context of a natural disaster may prove more palatable to the sensibilities of the international community than invoking it with reference to a man-made catastrophe. This is not to say that China or other abusive regimes -- cherishing the inviolability of their own sovereignty -- will be at all keener on setting any sort precedent for R2P, but simply to note that the reflexive response to the devastation wrecked by a cyclone is, because the situation is not inherently political, more unconditionally sympathetic than the response to the more complicated, human-generated suffering of armed conflict.

The debate over R2P in Burma, of course, is essentially a political one, as the issue is no longer the death and destruction caused by Nargis, but that caused by the exacerbating and obstructionist tactics of the country's ruling junta. As Gareth Evans, the author of the report establishing R2P, wisely reminds us, intervention in the case of a natural disaster is only even possible under the aegis of R2P if a government's calculated disregard for its citizens amounts to a crime against humanity. The doctrine was not intended as a shortcut for the international community to provide relief in desperate cases of natural disaster.

Nonetheless, as the outpouring of donations following the 2004 Asian tsunami taught us, individuals and governments alike often react more proactively to a single, catastrophic act of nature than to a messier -- even if far deadlier -- humanitarian morass such as that in DR Congo. Again, referencing R2P in light of the cyclone in Burma will not automatically bolster the doctrine -- we must remember that R2P was officially applied to the genocide in Darfur over a year ago, and movement to operationalize the concept has been limited -- but, as the sheer volume of the discussion of R2P that has percolated over the past few days suggests, the test case of Burma has generated a degree of salience for R2P that Darfur has not.

Granted, the paranoid opposition of Burma's government, and those of allies like China, is no less real than that of Sudan's ruling cabal and its powerful allies (once again, read: China); the junta, hidden away in the Burmese jungle, simply prefers a strategy of stifling all communication over one of combative rhetoric. Similarly, Sudan's active obstructionism is just as transparent as that of the Burmese authorities, but -- and this is just a hypothesis -- the case of a government preventing cyclone relief from reaching its citizens seems to shock the world community into an even greater sense of indignation than does the slow and methodical obstruction of aid in a low-simmering, five-year "genocide by attrition."

David Shorr at Democracy Arsenal sees the case of post-cyclone Burma not so much "as an opportunity to assert R2P, but rather as an indication of how far we still have to go." This is true, in that there is certainly a long road ahead before R2P becomes an established component of international relations. However, the extensive attention that has been paid to this humble but audacious doctrine over the past few days could signal an opportunity, as well. Thinking about R2P in a meaningful way -- not, and this is an important caveat, as a simple trigger for invasion -- in the context of a devastating natural disaster could provide an important step in furthering the understanding of what sovereignty and protection mean in the broader and perhaps less "glamorous" array of cases of governments failing to fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens.

Robert Kaplan's NYT op-ed today is infuriating on a number of levels. Kaplan argues that the United States and a number of our European allies should consider mounting an invasion of Burma. He concedes that once such an an operation is mounted, the regime might fall so we should also be prepared to impose security afterward. Kaplan acknowledges that a Security Council resolution authorizing an invasion would likely be shot down by the recalcitrant Chinese, but proposes we send a coalition of the willing anyway.

No problem with that, right? It's not like American forces are already fighting two costly wars. As for the Europeans, I foresee two problems. One, it's a big step to think that the Europeans will circumvent the Security Council. They take international law very seriously. Second, European forces are also bogged down around the world in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chad and Lebanon. Fact is, most European (and Commonwealth) governments are under strong domestic pressure to scale back their military commitments oversees. A new "coalition of the willing" for Burma is basically a non-starter.

Also bothersome about the piece is that he believes the fantasy that we can just airdrop food and humanitarian assistance to the affected areas. This is just not so. Without intelligence on the ground (i.e. where to drop the relief) and a ready-to-go distribution mechanism, airdrops can do more harm than good. The strong will fight off the weak and people with guns will sell the relief on the black market. The aid will not go to the people who need it most.

Yes, we do have a moral obligation to help the suffering Burmese. The way to fulfill that obligation is not to froth at the mouth for toppling another odious regime, but by working diplomatic channels to force the junta to relent their obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts. This may mean taking a harder line with China over its support of the junta. It certainly does not mean we need to ready the gears of war to invade and occupy the country. That, frankly is a distraction and counterproductive to first imperative of helping those in danger.

UPDATE: Robert Farley has a couple of thoughts on the wisdom and utility of invading Burma.

Ivo Daalder and Paul Stares argue for Security Council action on Burma.

The United States and Britain should join with the French government and introduce a resolution in the UN Security Council demanding that the Burmese government immediately allow the entry of international relief supplies and personnel into the country and allow the UN to take charge of the relief mission. To make the case, Washington should show detailed imagery of the suffering and the extent of devastation in Burma (as it did so effectively in the cases of Bosnia and Darfur to shock a disbelieving United Nations).

The resolution should hold open the possibility of additional measures - including air drops of relief supplies - if the government did not comply at once. And the Security Council could commit to return to the matter in 24 hours, assess Burma's response, and consider additional actions.

Their broader point, though, makes sense. Taking this to the Security Council could help pressure to the junta so that they do cooperate with relief efforts. They key here is China. Should Beijing lend its support to a Security Council measure demanding the junta cooperate with UN relief agencies, we may just see the junta budge.

From ABC Rural:

The United Nations has hailed the potato as a potential solution to solving the looming global food shortage.

With wheat and rice supplies declining, the UN is encouraging low-income countries to grow more potatoes to cover the food shortfall.

It's also declared 2008 as the International Year of the Potato to try and raise awareness of how important the humble spud is to agriculture and the economy.

The International Year of the Potato also happens to have a fantastic website, from which I learned many facts dispelling my previous assumption that the potato consisted simply of "empty carbs." For instance,

They have the highest protein content (around 2.1 percent on a fresh weight basis) in the family of root and tuber crops, and protein of a fairly high quality, with an amino-acid pattern that is well matched to human requirements. They are also very rich in vitamin C - a single medium-sized potato contains about half the recommended daily intake - and contain a fifth of the recommended daily value of potassium.

Nutritious, delicious, and potentially life-saving.

Spencer Ackerman says it well, "The Burmese Junta does what juntas everywhere do...using the catastrophe that killed perhaps as many as 100,000 people -- a death toll too large to be comprehensible -- as a shakedown opportunity." Tragic, but true. Consider this:

"Burma's ruling military junta today impounded United Nations food shipments bound for the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy Delta, and U.N. officials said they would suspend further aid to the country in response.

Two planes carrying about 76,000 pounds of high-energy biscuits landed in Rangoon today, but were forced to offload into a government-controlled warehouse, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N.'s World Food Program in Bangkok. Risley said UN officials were told that only Burma's minister for social welfare could release the aid for distribution.

Imagine that a crowded building is on fire, that people are dying inside, and that a guy with a gun is standing outside the door to prevent firefighters from entering. Now multiply that by a couple million times or so and you can get a feel for what is happening in Burma right now.

The junta has never had a reputation for caring much about its own citizens, but the fact that they are erecting all sorts of bureaucratic hurdles to prevent life saving relief from reaching their own citizens is downright criminal. Given this behavior, I wonder if the Security Council should invoke the "Responsibility to Protect" and authorize the violation of Myanmar's sovereignty by other member states? (This is the principal, agreed upon by UN member states in 2005, that the international community is permitted to violate the sovereignty of a country when that country is unwilling or unable to prevent mass atrocities from being visited upon its own citizens.)

It seems that at least one P-5 member, France , thinks so. The proposal was aired by Bernard Kouchner, French foreign minister and founder of Doctors Without Borders, but quickly shot down by China and Russia. The UN's Top Humanitarian Official, John Holmes, also derided the proposal, saying "I'm not sure that invading Myanmar would be a very sensible option at this particular moment. I'm not sure it would be helpful to the people we're actually trying to help."

True, the immediate goal is to get relief to Burmese citizens as fast as possible. Right now, this means working with the military junta. But if this kind of obstructionism on the part of the Burmese government is not overcome soon, invoking Responsibility to Protect should not be too far outside the realm of possibility.

Caught between Hamas rockets and an Israeli blockade, Palestinian refugees in Gaza are bearing the brunt of a tense geopolitical standoff. For the second time in a week, the UN has been forced to halt its provision of food aid to 1.5 million Gazans due to a shortage of fuel caused by the blockade.

Unlike the situation in Eritrea, where the Eritrean government withheld fuel out of animosity for UN peacekeepers, Israel is not deliberately trying to starve the UN of fuel. Nor, of course, is it expressly targeting Gaza's refugee population. Rather, the motivation of the blockade is to deter Hamas -- which an Israeli official accuses of "deliberately holding up supplies for its own political reasons" -- from launching rocket attacks into southern Israel. Yet the UN special envoy to Gaza, while condemning Hamas' attacks, also identified Israel's blockade as effectively "collective punishment."

Apportioning blame in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is inevitably a politically contentious endeavor. While both sides surely deserve censure, in this case it is ultimately unproductive. The ultimate losers in this battle are the million-plus innocent Gazans who rely on humanitarian relief, and both Hamas and Israel should recognize that these civilians will require some degree of cooperation to ensure that their dire needs can be met.

Very disturbing news out of Darfur, from The Guardian:

The World Food Programme is to halve food rations for up to 3 million people in Darfur from next month because of insecurity along the main supply routes. At least 60 WFP lorries have been hijacked since December in Sudan's western province, where government forces and rebels have been at war for five years. The hijacks have drastically curtailed the delivery of food to warehouses ahead of the rainy season that lasts from May to September, when there is limited market access and crop stocks are depleted.

Instead of the normal ration of 500 grams of cereal a day, people in displaced persons' camps and conflict-affected villages will only get 225 grams from next month, the UN agency said yesterday. Rations of pulses and sugar will also be halved, giving people barely 60% of their recommended minimum daily calorie intake.

The WFP said that while Sudan's government provided security for convoys on the main supply routes, the escorts were too infrequent, given the huge demand for food at this time of year. "Attacks on the food pipeline are an attack on the most vulnerable people in Darfur," said Josette Sheeran, the agency's executive director. "With up to 3 million people depending on us for their survival in the rainy season, keeping WFP's supply line open is a matter of life and death. We call on all parties to protect the access to food."

Sheeran's exhortation painfully underscores the urgent need for a larger and more robust peacekeeping force in Darfur. The parties responsible for disrupting WFP's supply lines -- government and rebel forces, as well as opportunistic bandits -- are not going to police themselves, as severing -- or appropriating -- humanitarian aid is often, perversely, the exact purpose of these groups. Protecting humanitarian supply lines, then, is one area in which a neutral peacekeeping force can have an immediate impact -- even before Darfur's sputtering peace process can achieve a sustainable political solution.

At a Global Day for Darfur event here on the Mall in Washington last Sunday, Amnesty International and Tents of Hope had set up an evocative display of little baggies containing the amount of food that each Darfurian in an Internally Displaced Persons Camp receives each day. The small piles of lentils and flour were not much, and halving even that meager amount bodes very poorly indeed for the future of Darfur's displaced.

Once again, the World Food Program is warning that unless donors step up it will have to start rationing food aid.

The Rome-based World Food Program said it issued the appeal in a letter sent to governments on Thursday, urging them to be as generous as possible by May 1 so the WFP will not have to begin rationing food aid.

The agency estimates that in Darfur alone it needs to provide emergency food for as many as 3 million people daily. The organization, the world's largest humanitarian agency, gives food to as many as 70 million people worldwide.

Earlier this month, WFP executive director Josette Sheeran said that the high prices of food and oil have been swelling the ranks of the hungry since last summer, and cautioned that the crisis would continue for several years.

Sheeran said that a 40 percent rise in the cost of fuel and commodities such as grain since mid-2007 have raised the cost of food and transport, causing the shortfall in the agency's 2008 budget.

Food riots have erupted from West Africa to South Asia. In countries where food has to be imported to feed hungry populations, communities are rising to protest the high cost of living. Fragile democracies are feeling the pressure of food insecurity. Many governments have issued export bans and price controls on food, distorting markets and presenting challenges to commerce.

In January, to cite one example, Afghan President Hamid Karzai appealed for $77 million to help provide food for more than 2.5 million people pushed over the edge by rising prices. He drew attention to an alarming fact: The average Afghan household now spends about 45 percent of its income on food, up from 11 percent in 2006.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending relief in the wake of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh—the organization is sending food to feed 400,000 people in the affected areas.

“We have to move as quickly as possible to get food to the most vulnerable,” said WFP Bangladesh Representative Douglas Broderick, pointing out that the biscuits are critical “when there is a scarcity of clean water for drinking and cooking.”

More

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his concern at the devastation and increasing death toll left by Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh.

Media reports say that more than 2,000 people have been reported killed as a result of Cyclone Sidr, which struck the southwest coast of Bangladesh late on Thursday local time, bringing winds of more than 240 kilometres per hour and a water surge that created waves up to five metres high. The death toll is expected to climb further.

Thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed, large tracts of cropland have been wiped and hundreds of thousands of people have had to evacuate their home villages and towns and now depend on aid for basic necessities.

Ban expressed "his profound condolences to the people and Government of Bangladesh for the many deaths and the destruction involved, and the full solidarity of the UN system at this time of crisis."

More

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is sending aid to 70,000 people affected by floods in the Mexican state of Tabasco.

"We are moving as swiftly as possible to bring critical help to the people of Tabasco, who are suffering the worst crisis in their recent history," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

More

On the heels of World Food Day, highlighting the "inherent human right of every woman, man, girl and boy, wherever they live on this planet" to food, comes news that the head of the World Food Program in Somalia, Idris Osman, has been abducted by government troops, in turn highlighting the danger that UN workers on the ground endure in an attempt to guarantee that right. (You'll no doubt remember that earlier this month, 10 UN peacekeepers were killed in Sudan.)

In Somalia WFP workers also have had to deal with a festering insurgency lead by the Union of Islamic Courts and clan-based militias and piracy off the horn of Africa that threatens 80 percent of aid delivery. Despite those difficulties, WFP workers had been engaged in a campaign to deliver aid to 2 million Somalis (that work has been temporarily suspended due to this abduction).

UNESCO is joining the United Nations in their effort to aid those affected by the August 15 earthquake in Peru which left some 500 people dead.

UNESCO will provide assistance to Peru's Ministry of Education to assess the situation of schools in communities stricken by the earthquake, also working with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

More

One month after floods devastated Bangladesh, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is still providing food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and shelter to those affected.

UNICEF has also deployed 10 mobile water treatment plants for communities needing safe water in concert with the country’s Department of Public Health and Engineering.

The agency said in its latest update, released yesterday, that deaths resulting from diarrhoea have been avoided to date – despite 15,000 reported cases – thanks to the availability of oral rehydration salts to treat dehydration.

More

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced that approximately $85 million will be used to fund programs in 15 countries for under-funded emergencies.

"While each of these allocations represents but a fraction of the overall requirements in the individual emergencies, as a whole they help us pursue principled humanitarian action in which those who require aid the most are identified based strictly on need and assisted accordingly," said Margareta Wahlstrom, Acting United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator. More

"The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has completed construction of the first of the 227 mother-and-child health centres it is building in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province and earthquake-hit Nias Island." More

"Prompted by the magnitude and growing number of emergencies in recent years, WFP has launched a new humanitarian response "Network", with strategic hubs in Africa, Europe, MiddleEast, Asia and Latin America.

The Network is designed to meet the escalating challenges of sudden humanitarian emergencies which can sometimes strike almost simultaneously." More

"The United Nations has warned that the task of helping survivors of Saturday's earthquake on the Indonesian island of Java is "a race against the clock".

Emergency workers and supplies are arriving at the scene, but the UN's top relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland told the BBC the task was "enormous".

Driving rain has made conditions worse for survivors of the quake, which killed at least 4,900 and hurt 20,000.

And activity at nearby erupting volcano Mount Merapi is said to have increased.

United Nations aid agencies are holding talks in Geneva to plan humanitarian relief.

The agencies, including Unicef, the World Food Programme, the World Health Organization and the International Red Cross, have already begun distributing some relief supplies but say much more will be needed." [Read more]

See also:

What the UN is Doing

"A frantic search for survivors is continuing after a strong earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Java, killing more than 4,200 people.... Unicef said it was sending emergency supplies including 2,000 tents, 9,000 tarpaulins and hygiene kits." [More]

"Some 90 experts in early warning systems and natural disaster risk management met at a United Nations symposium in Geneva today to strengthen global mechanisms, especially for less developed countries, that have already helped to reduce the number of fatalities by nearly two-thirds at a time when such catastrophes have increased four-fold.

"From 1980 to 2005, over 7,000 natural disasters worldwide have taken the lives of nearly 2 million people and produced economic losses of over $1 trillion," UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told the Symposium on Multi-hazard Early Warning Systems for Integrated Disaster Risk Management, convened by his agency.

The Symposium, bringing together of 18 agencies involved in the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), is co-sponsored by The UN Development Programme (UNDP), the ISDR, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Bank." [Read more]

©UNICEF/2006/Shima Islam

"U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent plea to the international community to increase support for the desperately under-funded emergency in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In his first official visit to Germany since becoming High Commissioner last June, Guterres said that the human cost of the conflict in some parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - a country the size of Western Europe - continued to be much higher than in other emergencies.

"This conflict is taking more human lives than the tsunami; we have a tsunami in the Congo every six months," Guterres said at a press conference Tuesday with the German Minister for Development Cooperation, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul." [Read more]

See also:

"The war the world forgot", Democratic Republic of Congo Photo Gallery

"The U.N. undersecretary for humanitarian affairs, Jan Egeland, says northern Uganda's 20-year war, a lethal mix of religion and brutality, is the world's most neglected humanitarian crisis.... Last month, President Bush blamed the region's violence on a "barbaric rebel cult." Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., says Washington should demand "a rapid and organized international response to the humanitarian disaster" in northern Uganda." [Read more]

"U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland asked for the fund after the tsunami, and the General Assembly approved it last December. The idea is to give the world body the ability to quickly send emergency supplies to areas hit by natural disasters and other humanitarian crises, without having to wait for international donors to send checks.

The money in the fund would be continually replenished as contributions later poured in for each individual disaster. The 19 donors to date are Armenia, Britain, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Grenada, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Sweden, Switzerland and Sri Lanka." [More]

"The United Nations released an emergency grant of P2.6 million and dispatched a disaster assessment and coordination team with medicine and supplies for up to 10,000 people, the Philippine mission at the U.N. said in a statement." LINK

CNN: "The United Nations resumed crucial relief flights to earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan on Wednesday, but the race to save hungry and freezing victims was stymied by new landslides."

"The toughest time after last year's devastating tsunami may be yet to come, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a video message broadcast in Banda Aceh on Monday.

"A year on, there has been tremendous progress in many areas. Children are back in school. Epidemics have been prevented. Tens of thousands of survivors are employed in cash-for-work activities," the secretary-general said. "And yet in some ways, the most challenging days lie ahead."

"Breadwinners desperately need to regain secure livelihoods, hundreds of thousands of families need to re-establish themselves in permanent homes, and communities need to rebuild." [More]

"A year of disasters around the world sparked an unprecedented outpouring of aid, but richer nations still are not giving enough money to tackle lingering humanitarian crises, the United Nations' humanitarian chief says.

Jan Egeland said, for example, that as many people died in Congo every eight months as in last year's Indian Ocean tsunami.

He also criticised political leaders for failing to take action to end the wars that created humanitarian crises or invest in disaster prevention to ease the impact of earthquakes, hurricanes and floods.

The work of UN and other relief workers in conflict-wracked eastern Congo, in the Darfur region of western Sudan, and in northern Uganda had become "an alibi for lack of political and security action", Egeland said." [Emphasis added]

Read more...

Survivors have to prepare their meals outdoors

"The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) can guarantee winter food supplies for hundreds of thousands of earthquake survivors in remote high-altitude villages in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, but continuing donor support is vital for one of the most challenging logistical operations the agency has ever faced." [Full article]

"The United Nations will this week launch a major air operation to ferry food and other supplies to earthquake survivors high in Pakistan's mountains in frantic bid to beat the problems of winter.

Britain has supplied three Chinook transport helicopters that will fly up to 200 tonnes of supplies a day into the mountains from Tuesday for five days, said senior U.N. official Pat Duggan." [LINK]

Pakistani soldiers help carry boxes of high energy biscuits
from a UN helicopter for the families in the remote village
of Nauseri, Neelum Valley, Pakistan

Associated Press: "The U.N. on Friday warned it will run out of money and be forced to ground helicopters delivering earthquake relief supplies to northern Pakistan unless donors come through with the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to see 2.3 million hungry people through the winter.

Jan Vandemoortele, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan, also urged archrivals India and Pakistan to open the disputed
Kashmir border, saying this would help the relief effort - if not solve logistical challenges posed by the formidable Himalayan terrain.

"The situation is quite grim. With the money we have already, and much of it obtained from our own internal emergency reserves, we can keep the helicopters running for one week," Michael Jones of the U.N. World Food Program said in Islamabad.

The U.N. refugee agency also warned that its own reserves of emergency supplies were dangerously low. With landslides still blocking many roads, helicopters are a lifeline for isolated communities, delivering supplies and ferrying badly injured people to hospitals.

Halting flights would be calamitous for hundreds of communities that have received little aid, weeks before the frigid Himalayan winter hits.

Donor nations meeting in Geneva this week pledged $580 million for quake victims, but much of it hasn't arrived. The U.N. said it had so far received only about 20 percent of the funds needed for its emergency relief effort - a far weaker response than to other recent disasters, such as last year's Indian Ocean tsunami."

"The logistical challenge of reaching the hundreds
of thousands of people in desperate need of assistance
after an earthquake struck Pakistan, northern India and
Afghanistan on 8 October is one of the toughest the
aid world has ever faced." WFP

BBC: "The UN s