Thursday, September 9, 2010




Angelina Jolie in Pakistan to meet flood victims

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie visited Pakistan on Tuesday to draw the world’s attention towards the plight of 21 million people affected by the country’s worst-ever floods, the UN refugee agency said.

During a visit to Jalozai camp, Jolie termed the flood situation in Pakistan as extraordinarily complex. Speaking to the media, she said she is ready to extend all-out support to the flood victims such as providing tents, food, drinking water and medicine.

The Hollywood star, who has donated 65,000 pounds for the cause, said Pakistanis face mass death, mass displacement, and that the situation is going to get worse. She added that Pakistan is already giving shelter to millions of Afghan refugees and massive floods have put the country in a very precarious situation.

Jolie, the 34-year-old actress and roving envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, would be travelling to affected communities in the northwest and would meet those involved in the relief efforts, it said.

This is the fourth visit by Jolie to Pakistan since she became a UNHCR goodwill ambassador in 2001.

Last week Jolie released a video message appealing for greater public support for Pakistan’s relief efforts, and she has herselfdonated $100,000 to the flood appeal.

The UNHCR is providing relief aid including shelter materials to those displaced by the disaster, which has killed 1,760 people by the official toll.

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