THE catastrophe that has struck Pakistan is gargantuan, but the Irish aid agencies and Government responded with customary spontaneity and wholehearted engagement, supported by the generosity and compassion of the Irish people.

Two separate bomb attacks killed more than 20 people and injured dozens more in Pakistan today.

Pakistan ordered the deportation of about 50,000 Afghan refugees in an insurgency-wracked tribal region amid a major military offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.